Mount Michael

Last updated

Mount Michael
Saunders Island ASTER.jpg
Saunders Island
Highest point
Elevation 843 m (2,766 ft)
Prominence 843 m (2,766 ft)
Coordinates 57°48′13″S26°28′52″W / 57.80361°S 26.48111°W / -57.80361; -26.48111
Geography
Location Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands
Geology
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Last eruption 2023

Mount Michael is an active volcano with a height of 843m. It is located on Saunders Island in the South Sandwich Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the few volcanoes in an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The volcano was discovered by a British expedition under James Cook in 1775, but was presumably first charted in 1820 by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. It was recharted in 1930 by DI personnel under Commander W.M. Carey of the Royal Navy, who was captain of the Discovery II at the time of the survey.

Contents

Persistent lava lake

In 2019, it was discovered that Mount Michael had a persistent lava lake, a rare phenomenon which is only known to occur at eight volcanoes in the world. [1] [2] In November 2022, an expedition from University College London led by geologist Emma Nicholson reached the summit of the volcano and was able to confirm the existence of the lava lake. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands</span> British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 165 kilometres (103 mi) long and 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km2 (1,507 sq mi). The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) west from its nearest point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Sandwich Islands</span> Island chain in South Atlantic Ocean

The South Sandwich Islands are a chain of uninhabited volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. They are administered as part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The chain lies in the sub-Antarctic region, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia and 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi) northeast from the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Erebus</span> Volcano on Ross Island, Antarctica

Mount Erebus is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica, the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on an island, and the second-highest in Antarctica. With a summit elevation of 3,794 metres (12,448 ft), it is located in the Ross Dependency on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes: Mount Terror, Mount Bird, and Mount Terra Nova.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deception Island</span> Active volcanic island in the South Shetland archipelago

Deception Island is in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally affected by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station. It is now a tourist destination with over 15,000 visitors per year. Two research stations are operated by Argentina and Spain during the summer season. While various countries have asserted sovereignty, it is still administered under the Antarctic Treaty System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring of Fire</span> Region around the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur

The Ring of Fire is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes, about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide, which surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean. The exact number of volcanoes within the Ring of Fire is not universally agreed but, depending on which regions are included in any particular count, it contains between 750 and 915 active or dormant volcanoes, around two-thirds of the world total. About 90% of the world's earthquakes, including most of its largest, occur within the belt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kīlauea</span> Active volcano in Hawaii

Kīlauea is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Located along the southeastern shore of Hawai'i Island, the volcano is between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and emerged above sea level about 100,000 years ago. Historically, it is the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaii. Kīlauea is also one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, with the most recent eruption occurring in September 2023 when multiple vents erupted lava for a week within the volcano's summit caldera inside Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Nyiragongo</span> Active volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 m (11,385 ft) in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 12 km (7.5 mi) north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu and just west of the border with Rwanda. The main crater is about two kilometres (1 mi) wide and usually contains a lava lake. The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls – one at about 3,175 m (10,417 ft) and a lower one at about 2,975 m (9,760 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active volcano</span> Geological feature

An active volcano is a volcano that has erupted during the Holocene, is currently erupting, or has the potential to erupt in the future. A volcano that is not currently erupting but could erupt in the future is known as a dormant volcano. Volcanoes that will not erupt again are known as extinct volcanoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Shishaldin</span> A symmetrical volcano in Alaska

Shishaldin Volcano, or Mount Shishaldin, is a moderately active volcano on Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands chain of Alaska in the United States. It is the highest mountain peak of the Aleutian Islands. The volcano's topographic contour lines are nearly perfect circles above 6,500 feet (1,981 m). The lower north and south slopes are somewhat steeper than the lower eastern and western slopes. The volcano is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes along an east–west line in the eastern half of Unimak Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cleveland (Alaska)</span> Nearly symmetrical stratovolcano on Chuginadak island

Mount Cleveland is a nearly symmetrical stratovolcano on the western end of Chuginadak Island, which is part of the Islands of Four Mountains just west of Umnak Island in the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Mt. Cleveland is 5,675 ft (1,730 m) high, and one of the most active of the 75 or more volcanoes in the larger Aleutian Arc. Aleutian natives named the island after their fire goddess, Chuginadak, who they believed inhabited the volcano. In 1894 a team from the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey visited the island and gave Mount Cleveland its current name, after then-president Grover Cleveland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mawson Peak</span> Volcano on Heard Island

Mawson Peak is an active volcanic summit of the Big Ben massif on Heard Island, an external Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barren Island (Andaman Islands)</span> Active volcano and island in the Andaman Sea

Barren Island is an island located in the Andaman Sea. It is the only confirmed active volcano in the Indian subcontinent, and the only active volcano along a chain of volcanoes from Sumatra to Myanmar. It is a part of the Indian Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and lies about 138 km (86 mi) northeast of the territory's capital, Port Blair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subglacial volcano</span> Volcanic form

A subglacial volcano, also known as a glaciovolcano, is a volcanic form produced by subglacial eruptions or eruptions beneath the surface of a glacier or ice sheet which is then melted into a lake by the rising lava. Today they are most common in Iceland and Antarctica; older formations of this type are found also in British Columbia and Yukon Territory, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lava lake</span> Molten lava contained in a volcanic crater

Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanism of Canada</span> Volcanic activity in Canada

Volcanic activity is a major part of the geology of Canada and is characterized by many types of volcanic landform, including lava flows, volcanic plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes, and maars, along with less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erta Ale</span> Active basaltic shield volcano in Afar Region, Ethiopia

Erta Ale is a continuously active basaltic shield volcano in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia, which is itself part of the wider Afar Triangle. Erta Ale is located in the Danakil Depression, an area below sea level between the last two countries, and is the most active volcano in Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Volcano (British Columbia)</span> Mountain in British Columbia, Canada

The Volcano, also known as Lava Fork volcano, is a small cinder cone in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located approximately 60 km (40 mi) northwest of the small community of Stewart near the head of Lava Fork. With a summit elevation of 1,656 m (5,433 ft) and a topographic prominence of 311 m (1,020 ft), it rises above the surrounding rugged landscape on a remote mountain ridge that represents the northern flank of a glaciated U-shaped valley.

Events from the year 2019 in Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands</span> British island in the southern Atlantic

Saunders Island is a crescent-shaped island 8.5 by 5 kilometres long, lying between Candlemas Island and Montagu Island in the South Sandwich Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a volcanic island composed of an active stratovolcano, 990-metre (3,248 ft) Mount Michael, and a cluster of pyroclastic cones on the southeastern side. Mount Michael has a lava lake in its summit crater, which is fumarolically active, and there is widespread evidence of recent eruptions across the island.

References

  1. Robin George Andrews (12 July 2019). "A Burning Lava Lake Concealed by a Volcano's Glacial Ice". The New York Times . Retrieved 17 July 2019. The area is often cloudy, and a seemingly constant volcanic plume conceals the lake most of the time. Fortunately, the team collected enough shots of the lake from 2003 to 2018 that clearly showed a crater floor containing a superheated lake 295 to 705 feet across. The lava is also 1,812 to 2,334 degrees Fahrenheit, with the higher end of that range about as hot as lava on Earth seems to get.
  2. "Remote Mount Michael volcano hosts persistent lava lake". BBC News. BBC News. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  3. "UCL leads first expedition to remote island's lava lake". UCL News. UCL. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from "Mount Michael". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey.  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg