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 3.2a Bransfield Strait and James Ross Island: volcanology
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Published:May 27, 2021
Abstract
Following more than 25 years of exploration and research since the last regional appraisal, the number of known subaerially exposed volcanoes in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region has more than trebled, from less than 15 to more than 50, and that total must be increased at least three-fold if seamounts in Bransfield Strait are included. Several volcanoes remain unvisited and there are relatively few detailed studies. The region includes Deception Island, the most prolific active volcano in Antarctica, and Mount Haddington, the largest volcano in Antarctica. The tectonic environment of the volcanism is more variable than elsewhere in Antarctica. Most of the volcanism is related to subduction. It includes very young ensialic marginal basin volcanism (Bransfield Strait), back-arc alkaline volcanism (James Ross Island Volcanic Group) and slab-window-related volcanism (seamount offshore of Anvers Island), as well as volcanism of uncertain origin (Anvers and Brabant islands; small volcanic centres on Livingston and Greenwich islands). Only ‘normal’ arc volcanism is not clearly represented, possibly because active subduction virtually ceased at c. 4 Ma. The eruptive environment for the volcanism varied between subglacial, marine and subaerial but a subglacial setting is prominent, particularly in the James Ross Island Volcanic Group.
- Antarctic Peninsula
- Antarctica
- Anvers Island
- back-arc basins
- basins
- Bransfield Strait
- calderas
- Cenozoic
- collapse structures
- cones
- Deception Island
- eruptions
- igneous rocks
- James Ross Island
- lithostratigraphy
- Neogene
- ocean floors
- plate tectonics
- Pleistocene
- Pliocene
- pyroclastics
- Quaternary
- Scotia Sea Islands
- seamounts
- shield volcanoes
- South Shetland Islands
- Southern Ocean
- subduction
- Tertiary
- tuff
- volcanic features
- volcanic rocks
- volcanism
- volcanoes
- volcanology
- Bridgeman Island
- Brabant Island
- active volcanoes
- James Ross Island Volcanic Group
- Port Foster Group
- Pendulum Cove Formation
- Fumarole Bay Formation
- Baily Head Formation
- Mount Haddington