Mt. Erebus is the largest and most active volcano on the Antarctic continent. This volcano has a unique convecting lava lake of anorthoclase phonolite magma. This feature and its southerly locality (it may be a major source of aerosols to the Antarctic atmosphere) has focussed a number of types of research efforts on Mt. Erebus, including studies of gas chemistry, impact of gas emissions on local and distant atmospheric and snow chemistry, crystal formation and magmatic evolution, eruption dynamics, and geophysics of the volcanic edifice. At this time faculty, staff and students at New Mexico Tech are involved with projects to date the geological evolution of the volcano, to examine the nature and emission rates of the volcanic gases and to record the seismic activity as a means of monitoring the activity and to examine the plumbing of the volcano

For more information on Erebus see:
Mt. Erebus Volcano Observatory home page
AGU Erebus volume

Selected References

Dibble, R.R., O'Brien, B., and Rowe, C., 1994. The velocity structure of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica, and its lava lake. In Kyle, Philip. R. (editor) Volcanological and Environmental Studies of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series volume 66, American Geophysical Union 1-16.

Dunbar, N.W., Cashman, K.V., and Dupre, R., 1994. Crystallization processes of anorthoclase phenocrysts in the Mount Erebus magmatic system: Evidence from crystal composition, crystal size distributions and volatile contents of melt inclusions. In Kyle, Philip. R. (editor) Volcanological and Environmental Studies of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series volume 66, American Geophysical Union. ABSTRACT

Esser, R.P., Kyle, P.R., and McIntosh, W.C., 1995. Revision of the eruptive history of Moutn Erebus Volcano, Ross Island: Applications of high- precision 40Ar/39Ar dating. VII International Symposium of Antarctic Earth Sciences, p. 122.

Kyle, P.R., 1977. Mineralogy and glass chemistry of recent volcanic ejecta from Mt Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica. New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys., 20, 1123-1146.

Kyle, P.R., 1994. Volcanological and Environmental Studies of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series volume 66, American Geophysical Union. AGU Erebus volume

Kyle, P.R., Dibble, R.R., Giggenbach, W.F., and Keys, J., 1982. Volcanic activity associated with the anorthoclase phonolite lava lake, Mount Erebus, Antarctica. In: Antarctic Geosciences. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. pp. 735-745

Kyle, P.R., Meeker, K., and Finnegan, D., 1990. Emission rates sulfur dioxide, trace gases and metals from Mount Erebus, Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Let., 17, 2125- 2128.

Kyle, P.R., Moore, J.A., and Thirlwall, M.F., 1992. Petrological evolution of anorthoclase phonolite lavas at Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica. J. Petrol., 33, 849-875. ABSTRACT

Kyle, P.R., Sybeldon, L.M., McIntosh, W.C., and Meeker, K., 1994. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from Mount Erebus, Antarctica. In Kyle, Philip. R. (editor) Volcanological and Environmental Studies of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series volume 66, American Geophysical Union 69-82.

Meeker, K., Chuan, R., Kyle, P.R., Palais, J., 1991. Emission of elemental gold particles from Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Lett. 18, 1405-1408.

Zreda-Gostynska, G., Kyle, P.R., Finnegan, D. 1993. Chlorine, fluorine, and sulfur emissions from Mount Erebus, Antarctica and estimated contributions to the Antarctic atmosphere. Geophysical Research Letters 20, 1959-1962. ABSTRACT