Sub-aqueous sulfur volcanoes at Waiotapu, New Zealand

Exhumed, sub-aqueous sulfur mounds occur in the Waiotapu geothermal area, New Zealand. The extinct mounds are <2 m high and composed of small (<0.5 cm) hollow spheres, and occasional teardrop-shaped globules. They are located within a drained valley that until recently was connected to Lake Whangioterangi. They were formed a maximum of 820280 years BP as a result of the rapid sub-aqueous deposition of sulfur globules, formed when fumarolic gases discharged through molten sulfur pools. Similar globules are now being formed by the discharge of fumarolic gases through a sub-aqueous molten sulfur pool in Lake Whangioterangi. # 1999 CNR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve