Submarine eruptions amongst the Azores islands have left many cones, lava flows and volcanic ridges

What is it about?

The shape of the seabed from geophysical data (multibeam and sidescan sonar) reveals the distribution of water-penetrating lava flows, volcanic cones, small ridges probably caused by fissure eruptions, faults and other structures related to volcanism in the Azores. This chapter outlined the distribution of sonar datasets amongst the Azores known at the time of publication, which covered much of the submarine slopes of the islands.

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Photo by Alain Bonnardeaux on Unsplash

Photo by Alain Bonnardeaux on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Unlike on land, erosion is commonly more limited underwater, so volcanic and tectonic structures can sometimes be better preserved. In the case of the Azores, for example, the spatial distribution of eruption centres appears more clearly defined underwater than on land. If small volcanic ridges overlie dikes, they indicate the orientation of strain at the times of eruption.