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Over time, layers of lava from an underwater volcano can build up and emerge as an island.
Underwater volcanoes can eventually form islands. The process can take hundreds of thousands of years and thousands of eruptions. As each lava flow covers the one before it, enough layers build up to finally emerge from the sea. Researchers are studying just such a volcano called Kick 'em Jenny. They have deployed a Real Time Offshore Seismic Station (RTOSS) to take measurements closer to the action than ever before.
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
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Related story: Real-Time Seismic Monitor Installed on Growing Underwater Volcano