We always thought we knew where all the volcanoes on earth were. The biggest one has just been found. And it has been hidden for as long as time. Where? It's beneath the sea. It is mother-effin huge.

Named Tamu Massif ( short for Texas A&M University), it sits on the floor of the Pacific off the east coast of Japan and occupies 119,000 square miles at its base. It is only really just slightly smaller than the state of New Mexico. It is 2.2 miles high, roughly the size of Mount Everest.

Scientists had an idea that something was down there for a while. But it wasn't until a research team at Texas A&M University discovered that its actually just one super huge volcano. They published their findings in Nature Geoscience. Tamu is

But they assumed it was a giant system of multiple volcanoes until a research team at Texas A&M University discovered that it's actually just one and had their findings published in Nature Geoscience.

Tamu Massif is long dead, and has been quiet for a very long time already. Lets hope things stay that way.

[Phys.Org Image by Texas A&M Integrated Ocean Drilling Program]