Abstract We review here data and information on Antarctic volcanism resulting from recent tephrostratigraphic investigations on marine cores. Records include deep drill cores recovered during oceanographic expeditions: DSDP, ODP and IODP drill cores recovered during ice-based and land-based international cooperative drilling programmes DVDP 15, MSSTS-1, CIROS-1 and CIROS-2, DVDP 15, CRP-1, CRP-2/2A and CRP-3, ANDRILL-MIS and ANDRILL-SMS, and shallow gravity and piston cores recovered in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic oceans. We report on the identification of visible volcaniclastic horizons and, in particular, of primary tephra within the marine sequences. Where available, the results of analyses carried out on these products are presented. The volcanic material identified differs in its nature, composition and emplacement mechanisms. It was derived from different sources on the Antarctic continent and was emplaced over a wide time span. Marine sediments contain a more complete record of the explosive activity from Antarctic volcanoes and are complementary to those obtained by land-based studies. This record provides important information for volcanological reconstructions including approximate intensities and magnitudes of eruptions, and their duration, age and recurrence, as well as their eruptive dynamics. In addition, characterized tephra layers represent an invaluable chronological tool essential in establishing correlations between different archives and in synchronizing climate records.

Abstract Mount Melbourne and Mount Rittmann are quiescent, although potentially explosive, alkaline volcanoes located 100 km apart in Northern Victoria Land quite close to three stations (Mario Zucchelli Station, Gondwana and Jang Bogo). The earliest investigations on Mount Melbourne started at the end of the 1960s; Mount Rittmann was discovered during the 1988–89 Italian campaign and knowledge of it is more limited due to the extensive ice cover. The first geophysical observations at Mount Melbourne were set up in 1988 by the Italian National Antarctic Research Programme (PNRA), which has recently funded new volcanological, geochemical and geophysical investigations on both volcanoes. Mount Melbourne and Mount Rittmann are active, and are characterized by fumaroles that are fed by volcanic fluid; their seismicity shows typical volcano signals, such as long-period events and tremor. Slow deformative phases have been recognized in the Mount Melbourne summit area. Future implementation of monitoring systems would help to improve our knowledge and enable near-real-time data to be acquired in order to track the evolution of these volcanoes. This would prove extremely useful in volcanic risk mitigation, considering that both Mount Melbourne and Mount Rittmann are potentially capable of producing major explosive activity with a possible risk to large and distant communities.