"Scientists have found an active volcano beneath Antarctic ice that last erupted just 2,000 years ago. The hotspot lies beneath the Pine Island region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where glaciers are retreating more quickly than elsewhere on the continent. The dramatic find might help to explain this particularly rapid loss of ice.
Although the Antarctic is often thought of as a huge, sedate expanse of snow, the continent is known to host several active volcanoes, some of which poke out of the ice. Mount Erebus, on Ross Island in the Ross Sea, is the area’s most famous active volcano and its continuous activity has been observed since the 1970s.
This volcanic activity has led some geologists to suspect that volcanoes lurking beneath the ice might affect how glaciers melt and flow on the continent. But no such hot-spots have been confirmed until now. (...)"
Although the Antarctic is often thought of as a huge, sedate expanse of snow, the continent is known to host several active volcanoes, some of which poke out of the ice. Mount Erebus, on Ross Island in the Ross Sea, is the area’s most famous active volcano and its continuous activity has been observed since the 1970s.
This volcanic activity has led some geologists to suspect that volcanoes lurking beneath the ice might affect how glaciers melt and flow on the continent. But no such hot-spots have been confirmed until now. (...)"
Full text: Nature
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