Volcanism in Antarctica: 200 Million Years of Subduction, Rifting and Continental Break-up
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

This memoir is the first to review all of Antarctica's volcanism between 200 million years ago and the Present. The region is still volcanically active. The volume is an amalgamation of in-depth syntheses, which are presented within distinctly different tectonic settings. Each is described in terms of (1) the volcanology and eruptive palaeoenvironments; (2) petrology and origin of magma; and (3) active volcanism, including tephrochronology. Important volcanic episodes include: astonishingly voluminous mafic and felsic volcanic deposits associated with the Jurassic break-up of Gondwana; the construction and progressive demise of a major Jurassic to Present continental arc, including back-arc alkaline basalts and volcanism in a young ensialic marginal basin; Miocene to Pleistocene mafic volcanism associated with post-subduction slab-window formation; numerous Neogene alkaline volcanoes, including the massive Erebus volcano and its persistent phonolitic lava lake, that are widely distributed within and adjacent to one of the world's major zones of lithospheric extension (the West Antarctic Rift System); and very young ultrapotassic volcanism erupted subglacially and forming a world-wide type example (Gaussberg).
Chapter 7.2 Mount Erebus
Correspondence: ksims7@uwyo.edu
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Published:May 27, 2021
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CiteCitation
Kenneth W. W. Sims, Richard C. Aster, Glenn Gaetani, Janne Blichert-Toft, Erin H. Phillips, Paul J. Wallace, Glen S. Mattioli, Dan Rasmussen, Eric S. Boyd, 2021. "Chapter 7.2 Mount Erebus", Volcanism in Antarctica: 200 Million Years of Subduction, Rifting and Continental Break-up, J. L. Smellie, K. S. Panter, A. Geyer
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Abstract
Erebus volcano, Antarctica, is the southernmost active volcano on the globe. Despite its remoteness and harsh conditions, Erebus volcano provides an unprecedented and unique opportunity to study the petrogenesis and evolution, as well as the passive and explosive degassing, of an alkaline magmatic system with a persistently open and magma-filled conduit. In this chapter, we review nearly five decades of scientific research related to Erebus volcano, including geological, geophysical, geochemical and microbiological observations and interpretations. Mount Erebus is truly one of the world's most significant natural volcano laboratories where the lofty scientific goal of studying a volcanic system from...
- actinides
- Antarctica
- Ar-40/Ar-39
- argon
- Cenozoic
- craters
- dates
- degassing
- eruptions
- fractional crystallization
- fumaroles
- igneous rocks
- inclusions
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- landform evolution
- lava
- lead
- lithostratigraphy
- magmas
- magmatic differentiation
- magmatism
- melts
- metals
- Mount Erebus
- noble gases
- Pb-206/Pb-204
- petrogenesis
- phonolites
- Quaternary
- radioactive isotopes
- Ross Island
- stable isotopes
- strombolian-type eruptions
- U-238/Pb-204
- uranium
- viscosity
- volcanic rocks
- volcanoes
- Mount Terror
- Mount Bird