What's the biggest volcano in the world?

This photograph looks to the southwest to the northeast rift of Mauna Loa. Volcano Village is in the foreground. The summit of Kilauea volcano is left of center. Photograph by J.D. Griggs, U.S. Geological Survey, January 10, 1985.

The largest volcano in the world, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, just got bigger. The previous volume estimate was 42,500 cubic kilometers. The new estimate is 80,000 cubic kilometers. How can a volcano change size so quickly? It didn't. Peter Lipman of the U.S. Geological Survey used new methods to estimate the volume. He used high resolution bathymetry of the underwater slopes of the volcano, data from seismic profiling and gravity studies, and the subsidence rate of Mauna Loa to better define the shape and density of the buried part of the volcano. The new estimate is 80,000 cubic kilometers.

Sources of Information:
Bargar, K.E., and Jackson, E.D., 1974, Calculated volumes of individual shield volcanoes along the Hawaiian-Emperor chain: U.S. Geological Survey Journal of Research, v. 2, p. 545-550.

Steve Mattox