Associated Press
Aug. 11, 2003 01:55 PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Scientists have discovered and mapped the first confirmed undersea volcano in the Aleutian Islands.

The volcano rises more than 1,900 feet from the floor of Amchitka Pass and may be the next Aleutian island. The black lava rock reaches within 380 feet of the surface and supports a profusion of coral, invertebrates, fish and other sea life, say the biologists and geologists working on the project.

"There's no crater in the summit that we can see, but it's just this perfect volcano shape," said Jennifer Reynolds, a marine geologist at the Global Undersea Research Unit of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the science director of the West Coast and Polar Regions Undersea Research Center. "I can see lava flows going off it downslope to the sea floor, and they're going off the map" for 8.7 miles.

Detailed mapping conducted this June by Reynolds and a team aboard the research vessel Davidson revealed the volcano to be a medium-sized cone, four miles across at the base. It lies about 12 miles southeast of Semisopochnoi Island, just across the 180-degree meridian in the Eastern Hemisphere.

It's about one-third to one-half the height of its sister volcanoes above the surface on nearby Gareloi, Tanaga and Little Sitkin islands, Reynolds said.

A strong eruption with lots of lava could conceivably surge above the waves and create a new island, though no one knows yet how often the volcano erupts or when it might blow again, Reynolds said.

"Undersea volcanoes tend to go back and forth and then get eroded," she told the Anchorage Daily News. "It's very difficult for them to get built up permanently above sea level."

Aleut oral stories describe the emergence of Kasatochi Island west of Atka, Reynolds said. Tiny Bogoslof Island west of Dutch Harbor was created largely by eruptions during the 18th and 19th centuries. But sorting out this volcano's potential to build new land will require further scientific studies of its rocks, sea life and sediments.

The cone first came to light last summer after biologists noticed the black, lavalike rock underlying coral on a feature they originally thought was just a big undersea pinnacle.

As the lead geologist, Reynolds could take the liberty to name the new volcano. But she contacted an Aleut language expert in Unalaska who promised to consult with Native elders across the region for an appropriate name.

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On the Net: Global Undersea Research Unit: http://www.guru.uaf.edu/