Well, duh.  Magma is underneath the crust of the whole world.  We learned that in elementary school.  But, scientists at Rutgers University have discovered a massive body of magma rising underneath part of New England.

Rising magma?!  Like a volcano?

According to lead author of the report/study, Vadim Levin, a geophysicist and professor of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, stated to Rutgers Today:

“The upwelling we detected is like a hot air balloon, and we infer that something is rising up through the deeper part of our planet under New England.  It is not Yellowstone (National Park)-like, but it’s a distant relative in the sense that something relatively small – no more than a couple hundred miles across – is happening.”

You know, ONLY a couple hundred miles across.  Here's a visual of how that looks on just the state of Maine.  Presque Isle to Lewiston, as the crow flies, is a little over 200 miles.

Illustration: Sarah Nickerson of Townsquare Media. Photo credits: Google
Illustration: Sarah Nickerson of Townsquare Media. Photo credits: Google
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Now, let's look at this with magma just to get an accurate representation:

Illustration: Sarah Nickerson of Townsquare Media; Town Photo credits: Google; Magna photo credit: USGS via Getty Images
Illustration: Sarah Nickerson of Townsquare Media; Town Photo credits: Google; Magna photo credit: USGS via Getty Images
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So, ultimately, this is me:

Illustration: Sarah Nickerson of Townsquare Media; Town Photo credits: Google; Magna photo credit: USGS via Getty Images
Illustration: Sarah Nickerson of Townsquare Media; Town Photo credits: Google; Magna photo credit: USGS via Getty Images
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Anyway, I continued reading into this to find out that the center of activity resides mostly in Vermont and New Hampshire.  Rutgers reports:

Levin thinks the upwelling pattern detected is largely beneath central Vermont and western New Hampshire, but it’s also under western Massachusetts. It may be present elsewhere, but the study’s findings were based on available seismic observations.

So, I guess us Mainers don't have much to fear quite yet.  But what happens when the hippies, hipsters and yuppies move east due to the molten flows?  We'll have to wait and see how it pans out.

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