On an exploratory mission to discover more about the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, underwater volcanoes and mineral-laden hot springs have been discovered.

The underwater area north of Fiji has been regarded as an anomaly due to its seeming shallowness, which can now be explained as a collision of the Australian and Pacific plates.

Volcanic rock samples from the Earth’s mantle were collected in the region, and will help uncover activity deep in the earth through time.