<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/newengland_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/newengland_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/newengland_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > The brilliant orange of autumn has faded into the deep brown hues of late fall in the U.S. New England States (Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC) (Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC)

At a Glance The upwelling of molten rock under parts of Vermont, New Hamshire and Massachusetts does not indicate a major eruption is coming anytime soon.

Still, the findings are compelling, researchers say.

A mass of warm rocks is rising beneath portions of New England, researchers at Rutger University say.

According to a study published this week in the journal Geology, the upwelling of molten rock under parts of Vermont, New Hamshire and Massachusetts does not indicate a major eruption is coming anytime soon, but the findings are compelling in other ways.

"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," lead author Vadim Levin, a geophysicist and professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, said. "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."



Levin said his team's findings "challenge the established notion of how the continents on which we live behave.”

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/uprising_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/uprising_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/uprising_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > In the figure, measurements of the strength of mantle flow are shown along with the colored map of seismic wave speed at 195 kilometers (121 miles) beneath the Earth's surface, under the North American tectonic plate. (Vadim Levin/Rutgers University-New Brunswick) (Vadim Levin/Rutgers University-New Brunswick) “It challenges the textbook concepts taught in introductory geology classes," he added.

The researchers collected seismic data through the National Science Foundation’s EarthScope program, a network of thousands of seismic measurement devices that have been placed throughout the continental United States at intervals of 46.6 miles. The devices will remain in place for two years while the organization details the structure and evolution of the North American continent and learns more about the processes that lead to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

(MORE: One of the World’s Most Dangerous Supervolcanoes Could Erupt Sooner Than Expected )

Thousands of earthquakes occur every day, most undetectable to humans. Levin studies the waves that pass through the ground after these tremblers to detect objects and other formations beneath the surface.

“We’re interested in what happens at the interface between tectonic plates – thick, solid parts that cover our planet – and material in the upper mantle beneath the plates,” Levin said. “We want to see how North America is gliding over the deeper parts of our planet. It is a very large and relatively stable region, but we found an irregular pattern with rather abrupt changes in it.”

The team focused their efforts in the area in New England where scientists had previously detected temperatures in the mantle that were hundreds of degrees Celcius warmer than other neighboring areas.

Levin said New England residents have little to fear from the upwelling.

“It will likely take millions of years for the upwelling to get where it’s going,” he added. “The next step is to try to understand how exactly it’s happening.”