Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist with Oregon State University, said, “A year ago, Axial seemed to be taking a nap, but now it’s waking up and we think it’s likely to erupt before the end of 2025.” The eruptions can last from a few days to several months.
He said that Axial Seamount has been inflating like a balloon since the start of the year because of magma building up inside the volcano.
Axial Seamount is located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, an underwater mountain range formed where two tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Pacific Plate, are moving away from each other.Researchers say the area around the volcano is also experiencing more seismic activity. In June, scientists recorded over 2,000 earthquakes in a single day near the volcano.
Scientists from Oregon State’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences recently mentioned in a blog that although the frequency of earthquakes has been wavering up and down, they acknowledged that they were unsure of what exactly would make the volcano erupt next, or when the eruption would happen.
Chadwick, in May, stated that if you were in a boat right above the volcano, you probably wouldn’t notice it erupting because the eruption happens deep underwater and there’s no effect on the ocean surface.
He, however, said that if you put the hydrophone in the water, you would hear the activity, “because there’d be a lot of commotion going on.:
He said that eruptions would not cause tsunamis or earthquakes on land, but would release huge amounts of lava into the ocean.
First Published: Aug 21, 2025 3:04 PM IS
