Ice Age Crater Reveals Methane-Spewing Mud Volcano

Scientists have discovered an underwater mud volcano spewing methane from inside a larger crater in the Barents Sea, south of Norway's Bear Island. The Borealis Mud Volcano is only the second of its kind discovered in Norwegian waters and measures roughly 23 feet in diameter and 8 feet tall. The volcano sits in the middle of another, much larger crater, which is 984 feet wide and 82 feet deep, and likely resulted from a sudden and massive methane eruption after the last glacial period, 18,000 years ago. The researchers found the volcano's flanks teeming with animal life feeding off carbonate crusts that formed thousands of years ago.