Mulciber is an extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

on the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

part of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, about 100 km Northwest of

Terschelling Terschelling (; fry, Skylge; Terschelling dialect: ''Schylge'') is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland. Wadden Islanders are k ...

History

Mulciber was active in the late

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

and early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

, about 150 million years ago, the same period in which the

Zuidwal volcano The Zuidwal volcano is an extinct volcano in the Netherlands at more than below ground under the Wadden Sea, between Harlingen and Vlieland, just south west of the island Griend. The volcano was last active during the late Jurassic, (about 1 ...

in the current

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

was active.Nieuwe vulkaan ontdekt in Nederlandse ondergrond
Geert-Jan Vis on Wetenschap.nu, 9 May 2020 In this time period, the area around the North Sea was seismically active because of the separation of the then-supercontinent

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...

. When rifts occurred on other locations, in the Gulf of Biscay and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, the area around the North Sea calmed down seismically. The volcano was covered by 3300 m of sediment layers, but due to halokinesis, ash and basalt remains have transferred upwards to layers at a depth of about 1660 m, which were shown by oil exploration drillings.

Discovery

In the summer of 1985, oil exploration company

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a ...

performed a test drillBorin
F16-02
data found at th
Keuzelijst Boringen
of th
NLOG
/ref> and found several metres of volcanic ash and basalt. At the time, it was thought those were remains of the

, which is unlikely due to that volcano being 100 km to the south east. The Geologische Dienst Nederland, part of TNO, has reinterpreted existing data, among which seismic data of oil and gas exploration,

Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic f ...

data and

core sample A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core drill. The h ...

s, to perform a general geological study of the North Sea. In this study, geologists concluded that they found an extinct volcano. This was published in the news on 9 May 2020.Miljoenen jaren oude vulkaan ontdekt in Nederlands deel Noordzee
Heleen Ekker, 9 May 2020 on NOS.nl

Name

The geologists of the ''Geologische Dienst Nederland'' named the volcano after ''Mulciber'', the god of fire and volcanos in

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

, also called

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

Radio 1 Journaal Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

van 9 May 2020, interview with Michiel van der Meulen, geologist of the Geologische Dienst Nederland, starting from 08:08:54

Location

The core samples are from a location about 100 km north west of

, 20 km north of the Frisian Front, 60 km east of the

Cleaver Bank The Cleaver Bank (Dutch: ''Klaverbank)'' is a sandbank in the North Sea about off the west coast of the Netherlands and south of the Dogger Bank. The size of the bank is about 1235 km2. The bank is 30-40 metres below sea level. The Cleaver Bank ...

and 100 km south west of the

Dogger Bank Dogger Bank (Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age the bank was part of a large landmass c ...

. A few km south is the ''Off Friesland North''-shipping lane. The closest point of orientation is the FR-A buoy, about 6.3 km south.Drafting of th
location
of the core samples found o
NLOG
on

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...

The volcano is about 3300 m below the sea floor. of the North Sea, which at that location is about 40 m deep. In magmatic rock, minerals like

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

and

ferrous oxide Iron(II) oxide or ferrous oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula FeO. Its mineral form is known as wüstite. One of several iron oxides, it is a black-colored powder that is sometimes confused with rust, the latter of which consists of ...

occur frequently. This causes a deviation of the Earth's magnetic field at the location of Mulciber, comparable with that of the Zuidwal Volcano.

References

{{reflist Volcanoes of the Netherlands North Sea Jurassic volcanoes Extinct volcanoes of Europe Magnetic anomalies

History

Discovery

Name

Location

See also

References