June 17– November 8, 2021
Mount Terror may seem like a location to prevent. But this Antarctic volcano is not as frightening as its name indicates.
From a geological point of view, the mountain itself is reasonably benign. Located on the eastern side of Ross Island, it is a guard volcano that includes many pyroclastic cones and lava domes. However, the volcano is now extinct– suggesting that researchers consider it not likely to appear once again. The last recognized eruption took place in the Pleistocene, the geological date that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years earlier. Additionally, the mountain’s youngest igneous rocks are practically 1 million years of ages. In contrast, the surrounding Mount Erebus– believed to be the southernmost active volcano on the planet– consists of a churning lava lake within its caldera.
Standing 3,262 meters (10,702 feet) above water level, the scale of Mount Terror may be intimidating to some individuals. The profile above portrays the mountain’s surface area elevation along a course near its peak. Data for the elevation profile were obtained on June 17, 2021, with the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) on
