Small eruption seen 24 June 2004 on S side of this Antarctic island
A small volcanic eruption was observed on 24 June 2004 by a member of the South African National Antarctic Programme's (SANAP) over-wintering team on Marion Island (figure 1). While conducting fieldwork in a mountainous area on the S part of the island, David Heddings was able to video an eruption that comprised gas and small pieces of scoria (a few centimeters in diameter).
Figure 1. The SANAP base station, located on the E side of Marion Island. Courtesy of Ian Meiklejohn. |
While it has been assumed that small volcanic eruptions often take place on Marion Island, the remoteness and hilly terrain over much of the island has meant that such events have not been witnessed. The last confirmed eruption on Marion took place in 1980 when ornithologists found a fresh basaltic lava flow on the W side of the Island.
Information Contacts: Ian Meiklejohn and David Hedding, University of Pretoria, 0002, Pretoria, South Africa, 012-420 4049 (URL: http://www.up.ac.za/).
The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Marion Island.
Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.
First eruption in historic time
During the first week in November [1980], research station personnel visiting the W side of Marion Island observed two new cinder cones, three small lava flows, and fresh tephra deposits, none of which were present when the scientists were last in the area in February.
Russell and Berruti traveled to the eruption site in late November. Regrowth of burnt vegetation indicated that the activity had probably occurred at least 2 months earlier. The smaller of the two cinder cones, ~6 m high with a crater 15 m in diameter, had formed at the summit of Kaalkoppie, an eroded, 100-m-high tuff cone. A lava flow that apparently originated from the W (seaward) flank of the summit cone had poured over nearby cliffs 50-70 m high and ponded in a small amphitheater-like area at their base. About 10 m of lava remained in the amphitheater in November, but caves above this level were partially filled with lava. Some of the lava had drained from the amphitheater and continued ~100 m seaward, flowing into the ocean and forming a front ~ 120 m wide and 10 m high. A lava tube seen at the S edge of this flow in early November had collapsed by the time Russell and Berruti saw it on the 26th, forming a 4-m-wide trench. This flow covered ~2 hectares, including the portion between the summit cone and the cliffs.
A second lava flow occupied a few hundred square meters of the promontory above the amphitheater. A small amount of this lava had spilled through a fissure onto the first flow, but most remained on the promontory or poured over its concave N cliff face into the sea.
On the flank of Kaalkoppie, E of the new summit cone and near its base, a larger tephra cone had formed around a 35-m-diameter crater. The E side of the cone was breached by a lava flow, 35 m wide as it emerged from the crater, that eventually reached 50 m width before diverging into two lobes. One lobe flowed ~350 m to the NW, the second ~200 m to the S along a shallow valley. The total area covered by this flow was ~7 hectares.
Irregular blocks and spheroidal bombs nearly 1 m in diameter were found on the flank cone. Fusiform and ribbon bombs fell as much as 350 m from the cone with heaviest tephra fall extending from its E, breached, side. A continuous layer of ash and lapilli covered an area extending several hundred m to the E and 40 m S of the two cones, with scattered fragments found 250 m to the S and much farther to the SE.
Information Contacts: A. Berruti, Univ. of Cape Town; S. Russell, Univ. of Orange Free State; M. du Plessis, Geological Survey of South Africa; C. Hide, South African Embassy, Washington DC.
Small eruption seen 24 June 2004 on S side of this Antarctic island
A small volcanic eruption was observed on 24 June 2004 by a member of the South African National Antarctic Programme's (SANAP) over-wintering team on Marion Island (figure 1). While conducting fieldwork in a mountainous area on the S part of the island, David Heddings was able to video an eruption that comprised gas and small pieces of scoria (a few centimeters in diameter).
Figure 1. The SANAP base station, located on the E side of Marion Island. Courtesy of Ian Meiklejohn. |
While it has been assumed that small volcanic eruptions often take place on Marion Island, the remoteness and hilly terrain over much of the island has meant that such events have not been witnessed. The last confirmed eruption on Marion took place in 1980 when ornithologists found a fresh basaltic lava flow on the W side of the Island.
Information Contacts: Ian Meiklejohn and David Hedding, University of Pretoria, 0002, Pretoria, South Africa, 012-420 4049 (URL: http://www.up.ac.za/).
This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.
Cones |
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Feature Name | Feature Type | Elevation | Latitude | Longitude |
Boot Rock | Tuff cone | |||
Crawford Bay | Tuff cone | |||
First Red Hill | Pyroclastic cone | |||
Fred's Hill | Cone | |||
Goodhope Bay | Tuff cone | |||
Gordon's Hill | Cone | |||
Grange Kop, La | Tuff cone | |||
Hendrik Fisher Kop | Pyroclastic cone | |||
Junior's Kop | Pyroclastic cone | |||
Kaalkoppie | Tuff cone | 104 m | ||
Rook's Bay | Tuff cone | |||
Santa Rosa Hill | Cone | |||
State President Swart Peak | Cone | |||
Swartkop Point | Tuff cone |
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There is data available for 2 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.
2004 Jun 24 - 2004 Jun 24 (?) Confirmed Eruption VEI: 1
Episode 1 | Eruption | South side of island | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2004 Jun 24 - 2004 Jun 24 (?) | Evidence from Observations: Reported | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
List of 3 Events for Episode 1 at South side of island
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1980 Sep 16 (?) ± 15 days Confirmed Eruption VEI: 1
Episode 1 | Eruption | E-W fissure from summit to W coast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1980 Sep 16 (?) ± 15 days - Unknown | Evidence from Observations: Reported | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
List of 7 Events for Episode 1 at E-W fissure from summit to W coast
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There is no Deformation History data available for Marion Island.
There is no Emissions History data available for Marion Island.
The Global Volcanism Program has no maps available for Marion Island.
There are no samples for Marion Island in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.
Copernicus Browser | The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions. |
MIROVA | Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity. |
MODVOLC Thermal Alerts | Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales. |
WOVOdat
Single Volcano View Temporal Evolution of Unrest Side by Side Volcanoes |
WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments. |
Volcanic Hazard Maps | The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter. |
IRIS seismic stations/networks | Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Marion Island. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice. |
UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations | Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Marion Island. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player. |
DECADE Data | The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere. |
Large Eruptions of Marion Island | Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA). |
EarthChem | EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS). |