The icy continent of Antarctica is, ironically, a hub of volcanic activity. The ice-capped region is home to over 138 volcanoes hidden beneath the snow, 91 of which were identified as recently as 2017. While most of them are thought to be inactive or potentially extinct, the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program reports that three have erupted recently: Penguin Island in 1905, Deception Island in 1970, and Mount Erebus in 1972.
Mount Erebus is the world’s southernmost active volcano
Mount Erebus is perhaps Antarctica’s most famous, with its summit reaching 12,448 feet (3,794 meters) and being the world’s southernmost active volcano. Satellite photographs show a heated lava lake that has been bubbling in its summit crater for the past 32 years.
It has been erupting continuously since “at least 1972,” according to Conor Bacon, a postdoctoral researcher in volcanic seismology at the University of Cambridge.
Since then, it has been known to “emit plumes of gas and steam” and occasionally throw forth rock “bombs,” which are collectively described as “strombolian eruptions” by NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Most extraordinary of all, these volcanic gas blasts are worth their weight in gold – quite literally. This is because they contain small gold flecks measuring no more than 20 micrometers, according to IFL Science.
While this amount may appear insignificant, experts believe that the volcano produces approximately 80g (2.8 ounces) of valuable metal per day, which is worth more than $6,000.
And, as you might imagine from the dust on the wind, the gold does not just stay atop Mount Erebus.
Rather, traces of it were discovered 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from the volcano after traveling through the air.
Not all Antarctic volcanoes are recognized for their sparkling belches
However, not all Antarctic volcanoes are recognized for their sparkling belches, and many researchers are still trying to answer the question of whether they could erupt one day. And what if they did?
Researchers admit that it is difficult to anticipate whether any of the 138 on the continent is a ticking time bomb.
This is partly due to the logistical and meteorological obstacles due to the region’s harsh environment.
For starters, the volcanoes are far more difficult to reach than those in other areas of the world, and all monitoring instruments “need to be rugged enough to survive the harsh conditions and long polar nights,” Bacon stated in his interview with Live Science.
So, what happens if one or more of these volcanoes erupt?
We can uncover clues by looking back nearly 20,000 years.
Mount Takahe, one of the continent’s volcanoes, is located near the isolated heart of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
In a 2017 study published in the journal PNAS, scientists proposed that Takahe was responsible for a sequence of ozone-destroying halogen eruptions that occurred around 18,000 years ago.
They stated that the eruptions caused an ancient hole in the ozone layer, which warmed the southern hemisphere.
This led glaciers to melt, contributing to the end of the last ice age, according to John Smellie, Professor of Volcanology at the University of Leicester, in an article for Newsweek.
Nonetheless, Prof Smellie admitted that for this type of environmental impact to occur again, a sequence of eruptions, equally richer in halogens, would be required “from one or more volcanoes that are currently exposed above the ice.”
“Such a scenario is unlikely, although, as the Takahe study shows, not impossible,” he wrote.
“More likely is that one or more of the many subglacial volcanoes, some of which are known to be active, will erupt at some unknown time in the future.”