Mount Erebus Volcano: An Exceptional Natural Laboratory for Studying Alkaline Magmatism and Open-Conduit Volcano Behavior

• Main Authors: Sims, Kenneth WW, Aster, Rick, Gaetani, Glenn, Blichert-Toft, Janne, Phillips, Erin, Wallace, Paul, Mattioli, Glen, Rasmussen, Dan, Boyd, Eric
• Other Authors: University of Wyoming (UW), Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement Lyon (LGL-TPE), École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: geo; envir; Mount Erebus; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02991157/file/GSLBooks19-008_Final_Version.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02991157

International audience Erebus volcano, Antarctica, is the southern-most active volcano on the globe. Despite its remoteness and harsh conditions, Erebus volcano provides an unprecedented and unique opportunity to study the petrogenesis and evolution, as well as the passive and explosive degassing, of an alkaline magmatic system with a persistently open and magma-filled conduit. In this invited contribution, we review nearly five decades of scientific research related to Erebus volcano, including geological, geophysical, geochemical, and microbiological observations and interpretations. Mt Erebus truly is one of the world's most significant natural volcano laboratories where the lofty scientific goal of studying a volcanic system from mantle to microbe is being realized.