More than 70% of Earth's surface is covered by ocean.

And beneath all that water is a volcanic world.

Thousands of volcanoes rise from the seafloor, hidden beneath kilometers of water. Some are enormous. Some are constantly producing new rock. Others remain quiet for centuries before erupting.

In The Volcanoes Hiding Beneath the Ocean, we descend beneath the waves to explore the hidden volcanoes shaping Earth's crust and the strange ecosystems that thrive around them.

Most underwater volcanism happens along the boundaries of tectonic plates, especially along the enormous mid-ocean ridges that stretch across the seafloor.

Here, magma rises from Earth's interior.

It cools.

New crust forms.

And the ocean floor slowly spreads.

But some underwater volcanoes are isolated from plate  ...