About 10 miles off the Santa Barbara coast, at the bottom of the Santa Barbara Channel, a series of impressive landmarks rise from the sea floor.They've been there for 40,000 years, but have remained hidden in the murky depths of the Pacific Ocean--until now. They're called asphalt volcanoes. Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and affiliated with the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of California at Davis, University of Sydney and University of Rhode Island, have identified the series of unusual volcanoes
Diagram showing formation of an asphalt volcano and associated release of methane and oil. .WHOI Image
A slab from an asphalt volcano discovered on the sea-floor of the Santa Barbara Channel.