What lies beneath the city of Jackson, Mississippi?

Deep beneath the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson lies an extinct volcano buried 2,900 feet underground. Discovered in 1819, the structure created an uplifted terrain known as the Jackson Dome, which contains carbon dioxide utilized in local oil production. It is one of only four volcanoes located inside a city in the United States.

What we know

• The Jackson Volcano is an extinct volcano located 2,900 feet beneath the city of Jackson, Mississippi, directly under the Mississippi Coliseum, and is classified as both a mountain and a volcano. [1, 2]
• The uplifted terrain around the volcano forms the Jackson Dome, which contains relatively pure carbon dioxide used in Gulf Coast oil production fields. [2]
• The Jackson Volcano is one of four total volcanoes located inside cities in the United States. [2]
• Noble gas data suggests mantle origins with a date of 70 million years for the Jackson Dome intrusion, and the volcano is believed to have been extinct for at least 66 million years. [2]

Still open

• It remains uncertain whether the volcanism was caused by the North America Plate's passage over the Bermuda hotspot or by worldwide eruptions driven by superplumes similar to those that created the Deccan Traps.

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureHow do hotspots create volcanic chains?
• a case in pointWhat are the other US city-embedded volcanoes?
• what followedHow is carbon dioxide used in oil recovery?
• whenWhen was the Jackson Volcano discovered?
• compared withHow do mud volcanoes differ from igneous ones?
• an unexpected connectionHow does a buried extinct volcano help pump oil?An ancient buried volcano houses a pocket of carbon dioxide gas that is actively exploited to fuel regional oil extraction.

Sources

• [1]Jackson Volcano (Wikidata Q6117785) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Jackson Volcano · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Mud volcano · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Volcano · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Taal Volcano · CC BY-SA 4.0