Bringing the Submarine Mariana Arc and Backarc Basin to Life for Undergraduates and the Public

Abstract

This paper aims to better teach about submarine arc and backarc basin volcanic and hydrothermal activity using the ~1400 km long Mariana convergent margin as an example. Four US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expeditions (2004–2016) equipped with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) have discovered and explored many of submarine volcanoes and associated hydrothermal fields and generated many short (~1 min long) videos about them. Some of these videos would be very useful for teaching about these processes if they were organized and context provided, which is done here. Eighteen short videos about nine sites generated by NOAA are presented and discussed here. These are organized into three categories: volcanic eruptions, magmatic degassing, and hydrothermal activity. Volcanic eruption videos include two about glassy pillow lavas erupted in 2013–2015 and a rare example of a submarine eruption. Four videos about magmatic degassing include an example of sulfur produced by disproportionation of magmatic sulfur dioxide associated with a submarine eruption, two rare examples of molten sulfur lakes, and liquid carbon dioxide venting. Four videos about hydrothermal activity are provided. Suggestions for how this material might be used in the classroom are also given.