Mount Erebus, Summit

Mount Erebus is without a doubt one of the most photogenie mountains in Antarctica (e.g., Fig. 16.2) and has been seen by tens of thousands of men and women who have passed through McMurdo Station and Scott Base on their way to their assigned duty stations or research areas. A few researchers have even been able to live and work on the summit of this olympian volcano. 

The summit of Mt. Erebus in Fig. 16.18 consists of a caldera at about 3,200 m which has filled with volcanic rocks composed of anorthoclase phonolite (Kyle 1977, 1990b). The active cone, which is located within this former caldera, contains the Main Crater which is elliptical in shape (500 x 600 m) and about 110 m deep. The Main Crater contains the Inner Crater which has a diameter of about 250 and is 100 m deep. The Inner Crater in Fig. 16.19 contains a lake composed of continuously 

Half Moon Crater Basanite dike 1.00 0.2 Armstrong (1978) 

Kyle et al. (1982a) recorded the volcanic activity on the summit of Erebus from January 1973 until December 1976. During this time, the lava lake increased substantially and strombolian gas eruptions occurred at the rate of one to three per day. Kyle et al. (1982a) also monitored the seismic activity of the summit area by means of seismographs that were installed in a warm ice cave originally described by Giggenbach (1976). The frequency of volcanic earthquakes in December of 1974 was about 1,0001984 per week (Dibble et al., 1989). 

A noteworthy topographic feature on the summit of Mt. Erebus is Fang Ridge located northeast of the 

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Fig. 16.2 Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the only active volcano in Antarctica. The crater at the summit contains a lava lake that vents gases which condense to form a plume. On this calm and sunny day the volcano was quiet. Castle Rock in the...

Fig. 16.27 Mounts Melbourne and Erebus are located on opposite ends of the Terror rift which is a local manifestation of the West Antarctic rift system. The summit of Mt. Melbourne displays fumaroles and high heat flow indicating that this volcano is not yet extinct. Mt. Erebus still maintains a lava lake in its Inner Crater. Small submarine vents have been detected by geophysical surveys. The alignment of Mt. Melbourne and Mt.

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