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Geological Formations

Mount Erebus

Volcanic Formations

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Mount Erebus stands on Ross Island in Antarctica's Ross Dependency, the southernmost active volcano on Earth and, at 3,792 meters, the second most prominent peak on the continent after Mount Vinson. It is a polygenetic stratovolcano built from anorthoclase-porphyritic tephritic phonolite and phonolite, and it holds the distinction of being the world's only currently erupting phonolite volcano, with a persistent lava lake in its summit crater, one of just five long-lived lava lakes known on Earth. The volcano has been active for roughly 1.3 million years, and its present caldera formed in an explosive VEI-6 eruption about 18,000 years ago, plus or minus 7,000 years. Mount Erebus continues to erupt in small Strombolian bursts from multiple vents within its inner crater, most recently in 2020. This entity documents Mount Erebus specifically as a geological formation, an active phonolite stratovolcano holding a persistent summit lava lake.

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