Sicily: Discovery of Submerged Volcanoes and Scientific Expedition  

 A particularly fruitful scientific expedition has taken place. This venture was jointly coordinated by the University of Malta and the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Ogs) in Trieste. The expedition team discovered three large underwater volcanoes, each at least 6 kilometers in width and rising over 150 meters from the sea floor. These volcanoes are located in the marine area between Mazara del Vallo and Sciacca, in Sicily.

In addition to unearthing these submerged craters, the expedition also shed light on hydrothermal phenomena and pinpointed the wreck of a ship measuring 100 meters in length and 17 meters in width, resting at a depth of 110 meters on Banco Senza Nome, halfway between the volcanic island of Linosa and Sicily. Of course, the ship's location has been communicated to Italian maritime authorities.

This international scientific expedition was carried out aboard a German vessel, the Meteor, from July 16 to August 5 of the past year. These newly discovered volcanoes supplement a series of other volcanic cones uncovered by the same Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics in 2019. Researchers explored the seafloor in various sections of the Sicilian Channel, which still remains largely uncharted, to reconstruct the morphology of the seabed. Samples of rock (lava and pyroclastic deposits) were collected from various underwater volcanoes. These samples will be analyzed in the coming months and will provide insights into the age of the volcanoes and the characteristics of the magma.