Daikoku Seamount

The conical summit of Daikoku seamount lies along an E-W ridge SE of Eifuku and rises to within 323 m of the sea surface. A steep-walled, 50-m-wide crater on the N flank, about 75 m below the summit, is at least 135 m deep and was observed to emit cloudy hydrothermal fluid. During a NOAA expedition in 2006, scientists observed a convecting black pool of liquid sulfur with a partly solidified, undulating sulfur crust at a depth of 420 m below the summit. Gases, particulates with the appearance of smoke, and liquid sulfur were bubbling up from an edge of the sulfur pool.