
This evidence of aerosol dispersal across the continent is likely from the passive degassing of the volcano rather than an explosive event. Most known eruptions at Erebus dating back several thousand years are only up to a VEI 2, so there is no evidence that Erebus has large explosive eruptions, although tephra/ash/aerosols from the volcano is found in the ice across Antarctica.
#Mount erebus pdf
One of the most remarkable features in the lava lake are the up-to-10-cm anorthoclase crystals ( pdf link) in the lava. This crater is 120 meters / 400 feet deep with a inner crater that is 100 m / 3~300 feet deep where the convecting phonolite lava lake sits. The lava lake has a variable 5 to 15 meter / 15 to 45 foot radius inside the main crater on the volcano.

Erebus is one of the few volcanoes in the world (along with Erta'Ale, Nyiragongo, Kilauea, Villarrica and Masaya) with an active lava lake and this lake has been present since at least the 1960's. These compositions are typical in rift systems and are found at places like the East African Rift or the Rhine Graben in Germany. Erebus erupts silica-undersaturated lavas in the form basanite and phonolite ( note: most lavas, like basalt or rhyolite, are silica-saturated). Erebus imaged by the NASA EO-1 satellite. There is also a live webcam to watch the volcano as well.
#Mount erebus mac os
If you want to do some monitoring at home, there is even an Mac OS Dashboard app for MEVO with current information of the volcano. Erebus also lies close to McMurdo Station. Erebus even once has a robotic explorer attempt to descend into the crater, but it ran into some trouble. The volcano is also closely watched via satellite (see below), examining the temperature of the surface of the lava lake and the SO 2 flux. There website has one of the most remarkable archives of information on a single volcano on the internet. Erebus Volcano Observatory (MEVO), run by New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the National Science Foundation.


The source of the magma at Erebus is referred to as the " Erebus Plume" that is rising from asthenosphere (in the mantle) at velocities of ~6 cm/year. This is an intracontinental rift zone that drives extension, producing the Terror Rift graben, which also hosts other nearby volcanoes on Ross Island (Mt. Geophysical location: Erebus lies in the West Antarctic Rift System over relatively thin (20 km) crust in what is (excellently) called the Terror Rift.Location: Antarctica* (technically, it is on the part of Antarctica claimed by New Zealand, but the Antarctic Treaty System more or less makes the continent an international zone.).
