Under Antarctic ice active volcano found
Research confirms that its eruption will accelerate the melting of ice on the continent and raise sea levelsAn impressive sight in the Antarctic landscape, the peak of Mount Erebus casts a long shadow over the Ross Sea. Mount Erebus is one of the most active volcanoes in Antarctica and one of the few in the world with a permanent lake of molten lava in its crater.
And here's the discovery new powerful volcano under a thick layer of ice continent. Scientists say that its eruption could accelerate the process of melting the ice shell of Antarctica and raising the level of the world's seas.
The discovery of a new volcano was quite accidental. In January 2010, scientists installed a batch of seismometers (earthquake sensors) on Marie Byrd Land in the mountainous region of West Antarctica. The instruments recorded two series of very weak earthquakes ranging from 0.8 to 2.1 magnitude - one in 2010, and the other a year later, in 2011.
The shaking has been observed at depths of approximately 15 to 25 miles (25 to 40 kilometers), close to the boundary between the crust and the mantle, and much deeper than normal earthquakes occurring in the Earth's crust.
The depth at which the earthquakes occurred, as well as their low frequency, indicates that these could be so-called Deep earthquakes, which, as a rule, are a consequence of the movement of volcanic masses. Most scientists believe that there is movement of magma that causes pressure fluctuations in faults within volcanic and hydrothermal systems. In fact, there is no longer a question of whether a volcanic eruption will occur. The question is - when? And what will happen in this case?
The volcano is covered with more than a kilometer of ice, and will even such a strong eruption be able to disturb the surface? There is no direct answer yet. But what is clear is that the ultra-high temperature of an erupting volcano can increase melting at the base of the glacier, and the meltwater can act as a lubricant that will cause the underlying ice to slide into the ocean, which, although not by much, will increase its level. Although, of course, there is no talk yet that this eruption could melt the ice sheet and cause a catastrophic rise in sea level. However, some scientists, such as Douglas Vance, a professor of planetary Earth sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, have not ruled out a scenario in which millions of gallons of melted water rush into the area below the glacier to the sea and create one of the main flows that dumping ice from Antarctica into the Ross Ice Shelf.
Today, only two volcanoes are active in Antarctica - Mount Erebus, south of New Zealand, and the volcanic Deception Island, which is located about 850 km southeast of Cape Horn. Although the larger Erebus has been erupting continuously for the past few decades, the smaller Deception, nestled in the middle of the South Shetland Islands, is responsible for the largest known eruption in the Antarctic region.
More than 10,000 years ago, its caldera produced powerful explosion, which ejected about 30 km³ of molten rock. The eruption resulted in the formation of Port Foster Bay. Deception was officially opened by British captain William Smith in 1820, later used as a camp for seal and whale fishermen, and now houses an observatory.
Despechen Scientific Base
The Deception Base, established by the UK, Chile and Argentina, provides a unique closed environment for monitoring volcanic activity beneath a thick layer of ice. All of the above countries funded the observatory in the 1960s, but after two successive eruptions in 1967 and 1969, the stations in Chile and the UK were destroyed. Now only scientists from Argentina and the Spaniards, who set up their station in 2000, are working on the volcano.
Deception falls into a rare category called “subglacial volcanoes.” The island is located in a place where a massive glacier about 100 m thick lies on the ocean floor. It would seem that if lava hits the glacier from below, then soft steam evaporation should be visible on the surface, but in Deception everything happens completely differently. Its lava moves very slowly and contains a large number of water, as a result a huge amount of dirt comes to the surface, which became the cause of the death of the Chilean and British stations in the last century. The eruption of mud in the 1960s came as a big surprise to scientists, who had previously described the glacier as being deceptively thin. They did not expect that the volcano could produce anything other than steam, and considered the island the most favorable for the location of an observatory.
The Deception Mystery
As an active volcano in Antarctica, Deception remains a great mystery today. The fact is that most volcanoes on earth are created as a result of the subduction of tectonic plates. A striking example of such a formation is the Cascade Mountains in the northwestern part of the United States, known for their formidable peak. Many marine volcanoes, such as those in Hawaii and the Azores, appear at hotspots—openings in the ocean floor where there is a direct connection to the Earth's mantle. The Antarctic island is neither one nor the other.
For a time, scientists thought that Deception might be an atypical example of subduction occurring in the ocean. But later a new hypothesis was put forward. Volcanologists now believe that the South Shetland Islands are a so-called rift zone. This means that they are at the junction of tectonic plates, but these plates do not collide with each other, but rather move away from each other, creating new oceanic crust in the process. Iceland is a good example of such a rift zone.
Deception - in search of oil
Since 2000, geophysical research has been carried out at Deception, funded by Spain and partly by the UK. It may seem strange that these nations are spending huge amounts of money studying a volcano in Antarctica, but their work is actually of great value and provides a general understanding of the functioning of our planet.
Situated on the western edge of the Antarctic arc, Deception is an ideal location for studying crustal faults and monitoring climate change. In addition, the volcano plays an important role in understanding rifting, which produces all the oil in the North Sea. It is highly likely that there is no oil on Deception, but most likely there is some in other areas of the South Shetland Islands. Thus, the volcano can become the key that will reveal to scientists knowledge about the process of oil formation and help them find places where these resources have not yet been discovered.
Active volcano. It is located on Ross Island. Volcano Erebus is the southernmost and one of the most active on our planet. Erebus is the highest active volcano on Earth (its height is 3794 m) and, perhaps, the most unusual. Near the Erebus volcano there are three more of its already extinct counterparts.
Mount Erebus was discovered on January 28, 1841, by an English expedition led by polar explorer Sir James Clark Ross. The expedition owned two ships: the Erebus and the Terror. The volcano got its name after one of the ships. Located to the east, smaller, narrower dormant volcano, called Terror.
The first ascent to the top of the formidable volcano Erebus took place on March 10, 1908. These were six people from Ernst Shackleton's expedition.
The goal of this expedition was to conquer South Pole. Within three days, members of the expedition reached the top of the fire-breathing mountain and examined all three of its craters. The largest of them was 805 m in diameter and 274 m deep.
Lava, fire and smoke erupt from several holes in the volcano, and at the bottom there is a lake of molten lava. This lava lake has not frozen even today.
It should be noted that the lava lake of Erebus is a rare phenomenon in the world of volcanoes. Erebus is one of only three volcanoes on Earth with non-healing lava lakes. In addition to the Antarctic giant, long-term lakes of liquid lava exist only in the crater of the Kilauea volcano in the Hawaiian Islands and in the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano in Africa. However, the lake of fire among the eternal snow and ice undoubtedly produces a more powerful impression.
Volcano Erebus is characterized by constant activity. There are hardly a dozen volcanoes around the world that remain active between eruptions. Starting to erupt, the volcano throws out “volcanic bombs” that reach a diameter of six meters or more.
The lava of this amazing volcano has a unique composition. The rocks that make up the mountains of Kenya, the so-called kenites, have the same composition, only in a molten state. Erebus is the only active volcano on Earth that erupts such magma.
The slopes of Mount Erebus, the same name as the volcano, are heated by the hot breath of the earth’s bowels and, in some places, it almost breaks out. The ice above such areas melts from below and forms caves, and warm, moist air escapes from them through ice pipes. The steam coming out of them, in contact with the thirty-forty degree frost prevailing outside, condenses and the walls of these “chimneys” are constantly growing. The height of such “ice chimneys” on the slopes of Erebus reaches twenty meters or more.
Dripping water and condensing steam form the unique icy beauty of the caves. The temperature in these ice caves is around 0°C, and the air humidity reaches 100%. The ceiling of these fabulous ice caves, unlike ordinary stone ones, is translucent in places.
On the smooth boulders of hardened lava, protected by an ice dome from external frosts, here and there you can find moss and algae with the necessary assortment of living creatures. The local relict biocenosis is very sensitive, and the caves are classified as specially protected areas, and some of them are generally prohibited for outside visits. This probably explains the fact that it was not possible to find photographs on this topic.
Everyone who had a chance to observe the volcano: James Ross and his companions in 1841, Captain Scott and his comrades sixty years later, members of Ernest Shackleton's expedition who were the first to climb Erebus in 1908, and members of Scott's second expedition who climbed it in 1912 year and, finally, current polar explorers who observed the volcano from airplanes and helicopters reported that “flames fly out of the volcano,” or that a plume of smoke stretches from the volcano and turns crimson at night.
But this area of Antarctica attracts researchers from all over the world not only because of the active Erebus volcano, the glow above which has turned it into a kind of beacon for everyone who swims in the Ross Sea, but also because nearby, on Victoria Land, the Earth’s South Magnetic Pole was recently located . Now its location has shifted north, and now the South Pole point is in the ocean, near the coast of Antarctica.
Erebus is a great name for a volcano. In Greek mythology, Erebus was the son of the god Chaos, and his mother was Gaia, or Earth. He was created from darkness and shadow and filled every corner of the world with his darkness. Mount Erebus is the southernmost volcano on Earth and the most active in Antarctica. It contains a lake of red-hot lava with a temperature of 900 degrees Celsius - this is a circulating pool of magma over a kilometer deep, one of five similar ones existing on the planet
While temperatures inside the volcano are extremely hot, the outside can instantly freeze in arctic temperatures. The slopes of the snow-capped volcano are dotted with ice caves, through which volcanic gases, hydrogen and methane, often escape, destroying the Earth's ozone layer. Right above this very active volcano world and the thinnest ozone layer is observed 
Mount Erebus was first discovered by polar explorer Sir James Ross in 1841. Later, in 1907, explorer Ernest Shackleton made the first ascent of Erebus with a specially organized expedition. The areas surrounding the volcano were named Ross Island, in honor of the discoverer 
One of the most important features of this volcano is that it is always active. This is why the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory (MEVO) is located here, as it is an ideal site for volcanologists. Instead of lying dormant and then erupting spectacularly once every 100 years, like many other volcanoes, Erebus is always on and bubbling. 
This place is also infamous for a tragic plane crash. During an excursion flight, a New Zealand plane fell into thick clouds and crashed into the slope of a volcano. 237 passengers and 20 crew members were killed. The famous explorer and traveler Edmund Hillary was also supposed to take part in the flight, but canceled his trip at the last moment. Traces of this disaster are still visible on the slope of Erebus, and the unidentified remains of the victims are buried at the Waikumete Memorial Cemetery in West Oakland. New Zealand, where a memorial wreath is laid annually 
Erebus, a volcano in Antarctica is:
Erebus, a volcano in Antarctica
(Erebus) is an active volcano on the Antarctic continent of Victoria Land; at 77.5° south latitude and 167° east longitude from Greenich. It rises to a height of 3770 m, while not far from it, the apparently extinct Mount Terror rises to 3317 m. Both volcanoes were discovered in 1841 by Captain Sir James Ross, who sailed with two ships "E." and “Terror”, after which the volcanoes are named.
Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb. Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907.
See what “Erebus, a volcano in Antarctica” is in other dictionaries:
Erebus volcano in Antarctica- (Erebus) an active volcano on the Antarctic continent of Victoria Land; at 77.5° south latitude and 167° east longitude from Greenich. It rises to a height of 3770 m, while not far from it the apparently extinct Mount Terror rises to 3317 m. Both... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Erebus (volcano) - Coordinates: 77°32′00″ S. w. 167°17′00″ E. long / 77.533333° S w. 167.283333° E. d. ... Wikipedia
Erebus (mythology)- Erebus (ancient Greek Ἔρεβος, “darkness”; → lat. Erebus) in Greek mythology, the personification of eternal darkness. Mentioned in the Odyssey (X 527) and in Alcman's Cosmogony. According to Hesiod, Erebus was born from Chaos, brother of Night (Nyx), who gave birth to him... ... Wikipedia
Erebus - Erebus Volcano (1972). USGS image ... Wikipedia
EREBUS is an active volcano in Antarctica, on the Ross Island (possibly the Peninsula). Height 3794 m. Discovered in 1841 by J. Ross ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Erebus - (Erebus), an active volcano in Antarctica, on the island (possibly the peninsula) of Ross. Height 3794 m. Discovered in 1841 by J. Ross. * * * EREBUS EREBUS (Erebus), an active volcano in Antarctica, on the island (possibly the Ross Peninsula). Opened January 28... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary
Erebus - volcano, high. 3794 m, on the island (or peninsula) of Ross, West. Antarctica. It was discovered in 1841 by an expedition led by J. Ross and at the same time named after one of the ships of the Erebus expedition. Geographical names of the world: ... ... Geographical Encyclopedia
Erebus is an active volcano on the Ross Peninsula in Antarctica. Height 3794 m. Composed of basalts and tuffs. The main crater, with a diameter of 850 m and a depth of 275 m, is located at an altitude of 3743 m. Below the main one there is a second, smaller crater. With... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Terror (volcano) - This term has other meanings, see Terror (meanings). Terror ... Wikipedia
Erebus - (Ἔρεβος) Mythology: Ancient Greek mythology Period of life: immortal Interpretation of the name: Darkness Occupation: god of eternal darkness Father: Chaos Mother ... Wikipedia
