Iceland’s Quiet Undersea Volcanoes Turn Explosive

Geophysicists aboard the Meteor on Expedition M201 found flat-topped, submerged volcanoes along the Reykjanes Ridge off Iceland, indicating that mid-ocean ridges can erupt explosively at shallower depths when seawater flashes to steam; a mechanism that may explain phantom islands like Surtsey and suggests future surface eruptions could occur as ice and pressure conditions change.