They listened to the Earth's breathing, detecting a new type of signal. And from this, scientists understood that a new, large volcano is forming in the ocean, near the Comoros Islands. The pioneering study was conducted by a team of researchers from the German geoscience research center GFZ, led by Italian seismologist Simone Cesca, and was published in the journal Nature Geosciences. The research started from an unusual sequence of earthquakes detected off the island of Mayotte, in the Comoros, an archipelago located between the African continent and the island of Madagascar. The seismic sequence, made up of thousands of earthquakes, culminated in a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in May 2018. From the following month, a new, different signal was detected and perceived thousands of kilometers away. It was a persistent sound, prolonged for over 20 minutes, similar to that of a bass. The researchers immediately thought of magmatic movements, but the signal appeared more persistent than those recorded in the formation of other volcanoes. Thus, through constant observation of the phenomenon and new analytical methods, they were able to ascertain that a new submarine volcano is forming.
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