The Brothers Volcano is a Pacific Ocean submarine volcano in the Kermadec Arc, 340 kilometres (210 mi) north east of New Zealand's Whakaari/White Island. Within its oval outline, which measures 13 by 8 kilometres (8.1 by 5.0 mi), it contains a 3 km (1.9 mi) wide caldera with walls 300–500 metres (980–1,640 ft) high. It is three times bigger than the White Island.[1] A dacite (dacite lava's viscosity is in between rhyolite and andesite[1]) dome rises 350 m from the caldera floor (which lies 1850 m below sea level), with a smaller dome just to its northeast.[2]

Brothers Volcano
Brothers Volcano as looking into the caldera from the south
Summit depth	1,350 m (4,430 ft)
Location
Coordinates	34.875°S 179.075°E / -34.875; 179.075
Geology
Type	Submarine volcano
Last eruption	Unknown

The caldera walls and the larger dome host numerous hydrothermal vents, which send plumes of hot water 750 m up through the water column. It is the most hydrothermally active volcano known in the Kermadec Arc.[2] These hydrothermal vents are also known as hot springs and have created an 8 meter high field of "black smoker" chimneys.[3] These chimneys are created when the hydrothermal fluids hit the cold water and the chemicals in solution are deposited.[1] The hydrothermal fluids are an energy source to many unique species of organisms like tubeworms and bacteria.[3] The marine life and minerals found from these chimneys are beneficial to New Zealand's economy and biotechnology industry.[1]

The volcano was created by subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Australian Plate.[1] It is still unknown when the Brothers Volcano last erupted, but the crater walls tell us that its last eruption was so explosive that it caused the volcano to blow out a caldera.[3] A joint expedition by the United States, New Zealand and Germany mapped the volcano in detail in 2007.[4]

Monitoring

Submarine volcanoes are not monitored by any organization, but have become a central interest in current expeditions.[1]

See also

• List of volcanoes in New Zealand

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brothers volcano.

References

External links

• de Ronde, C. E. J., et al. (2005). Evolution of a Submarine Magmatic-Hydrothermal System: Brothers Volcano, Southern Kermadec Arc, New Zealand, Economic Geology, 100(6), 1097–1133. doi:10.2113/100.6.1097.
• "Brothers". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
• Topographic map of the Brothers volcano

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[de] Brothers Volcano

[it] Vulcano Brothers

[ru] Бразерз