Ship docks, scientists peer into waves, find ‘treasure’ in Pacific Ocean abyss

In 2024, a group of researchers discovered a rocky structure approximately 60 kilometers from Rarotonga Island, one of the 15 Cook Islands located in the South Pacific. Taking advantage of a situation where the research vessel M/V Anuanua Moana from Kiva Marine had to leave the port to make way for a container ship, the scientists decided to set sail and investigate the rocky formation.

Now, the team of scientists has published the initial findings of the research launched during those days, known as ARTEX2025, which was led by researchers from the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority.

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In their preliminary analyses, the research team discovered a chain of underwater volcanoes that could potentially be active. When volcanic activity in the region began millions of years ago, hot magma erupted on the ocean floor and eventually cooled. When this process occurs repeatedly, it can result in the formation of underwater volcanoes.

If it happens frequently enough, the volcanic structure can accumulate and eventually rise above the ocean surface, forming a volcanic island. The volcanoes of the Cook Islands are estimated to be between 10 and 100 million years old, but some islands,such as Rarotonga and Aitutaki, are much younger, around 1.2 million years old.

But there’s something even more intriguing: the rocky formation discovered in 2024 turned out to be an underwater volcano roughly 670,000 years old, a young volcano that had previously gone unnoticed. Surrounding it were several other volcanoes scattered throughout the area.

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For example, the team found a very young volcano they named Tama, and another that reaches a height of one kilometer, which they called Pepe. The researchers have yet to publish the final results of their analysis.

“What the team observed is that if you draw a line from Rarotonga through Tama and continue it, it appears there could be more volcanoes further to the southeast. Using the hotspot model, these may be significantly younger and potentially still active today. Almost exactly at that point, there’s another underwater volcano named ‘Pepe,’” the official statement explains.