[cogitator]

Now for the question that the article doesn't answer:

What do the rocks taste like?

[ClearCase_guy]

The only person who knows what they taste like is "Mikey", the kid from the Life Cereal commercial. I hear he died from an overdose of these things.

[/urban legend]

[SunkenCiv]

"Eakins and co-chief scientist Dana Vukajlovich, a Scripps graduate student, say the loud popping sounds are due to high concentrations of volcanic gases trapped in bubbles within the lava rocks that explode when they escape the confining water pressure of the deep ocean floor."

Duh-uhhhh.