Gaussberg

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gaussberg
Gaussberg in 1912
Highest point
Elevation373 m (1,224 ft)[1]
ListingList of volcanoes in Antarctica
Coordinates66°48′S 089°11′E / 66.800°S 89.183°E / -66.800; 89.183[2]
Geography
Gaussberg is located in Antarctica
Gaussberg
Gaussberg
Geology
Volcanic cone

Gaussberg (or Schwarzen Berg,

glacial and subaerial erosion. The volcano has produced lamproite
magmas, and is the youngest volcano to have produced such magmas on Earth.

Research history

Discovered in February 1902 by the German Antarctic Expedition under Erich von Drygalski, who named it after his expedition ship[2] which in 1902 remained stuck in ice for a year.[4] The ship in turn was named in honour of the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.[2] Drygalski observed the volcano with the help of a tethered balloon.[5]

Owing to its peculiar composition, Gaussberg has been intensively researched.[6] The mountain was investigated in 1912 by the 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1956–1957,[4] by Australian expeditions in 1977, 1981,[7] 1987[8] and by an expedition linked to an entity "K.D.C" in 1997.[9] Regional krill stocks in turn were named after the mountain.[10] Owing to its peculiar composition and isolated location, the volcano has an importance out of proportion to its actual size.[11] The mineral gaussbergite is named after the volcano.[12]

Geography and geomorphology

The volcano lies in Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, Antarctica,[4] close to the West Ice Shelf and between the Australian Davis Station and Russian Mirny Station.[13] It lies on the Davis Sea immediately west of Posadowsky Glacier.[2] Gaussberg is within the Antarctic territory claimed by Australia,[14] and the only ice-free outcrop between Mirny Station and the Vestfold Hills.[15]

German map of Gaussberg

It consists of a 370-metre-high (1,210-foot), 1.5-kilometre-wide (0.93-mile)

erratic blocks and glacial striations are evidence that the volcano was formerly glaciated.[21]

Geology

Gaussberg is an extremely isolated volcano

heat flow.[29]

Its activity has been related to the

Indian Peninsula, has been christened the "Gaussberg Rift";[30] the volcano rises on a horst on the rift but its relation to the rift is unclear.[31] Finally, the 90° E Fault that separates regional tectonic structures may have influenced volcanism at Gaussberg.[32]

Composition

The volcano has a uniform chemical composition

clinopyroxene, leucite and olivine,[9] the latter containing spinel inclusions.[35] The Gaussberg suite is the youngest lamproite known on Earth.[36] The rocks are rich in volatiles[37] including carbon dioxide and water.[38] There are xenoliths, mostly granites coming from the Precambrian basement,[4] and zircons recovered from the rocks are up to several billion years old.[15] Palagonite,[4] salt[39] and native sulfur deposits have been found.[22]

The source of the Gaussberg lamproites is unclear, as the processes usually proposed for the formation of such magmas do not easily apply to the Gaussberg rocks.

crystal fractionation that raised the potassium/aluminium ratio above 1.[41] Deep mantle structures that formed through subduction billions of years ago and remained isolated since then have been proposed as the source of Gaussberg lamproites.[40] The Kerguelen plume may[42] or may not have played a role.[11]

Eruption history

Drastically different age estimates have been obtained on Gaussberg. Early research suggested a

outgassed argon.[33] The 56,000±5,000 years age is considered to be more probable than the 20 and 9 million years ones.[44]

Gaussberg was probably constructed in a single eruptive episode[45] but there is evidence that the present-day edifice formed on an older, eroded volcano.[36] Gaussberg formed under much thicker ice than there is today in the area, and the ice deposited moraines on its summit.[22] There are different views on how erosion affected Gaussberg; some think that it was largely spared[46] and others that erosion wore down the initially much larger edifice to its current size;[47][9] the latter theory is the preferred view of the Global Volcanism Program[48] and is supported by aeromagnetic data which suggest an initial size of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).[11] Dust layers in the Siple Dome ice core may come from wind-driven erosion of Gaussberg rocks.[49]

Biology

Several

rookeries occur at the mountain[55] and snow petrels were observed to breed there,[56] but overall there is not much fauna at Gaussberg.[57]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Mitchell & Bergman 1991, p. 131.
  2. ^ a b c d "Gaussberg". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  3. ISSN 1435-1935
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Sheraton & Cundari 1980, p. 417.
  5. ISBN 978-0-521-26233-0
    .
  6. ^ LeMasurier et al. 1990, p. xviii.
  7. ^ LeMasurier et al. 1990, p. 448.
  8. ^ Migdisova et al. 2023, p. 913.
  9. ^ a b c Murphy 2002, p. 982.
  10. ^ Wright, Minturn T. (1987). "The Ownership of Antarctica, Its Living and Mineral Resources". Journal of Law and the Environment. 4 (2): 63 – via HeinOnline.
  11. ^
    S2CID 234287036
    .
  12. ISSN 0027-7738
    .
  13. ^ Tingey, McDougall & Gleadow 1983, p. 242.
  14. ^ Salvioli-Mariani, Toscani & Bersani 2004, p. 83.
  15. ^
    ISSN 0301-9268
    .
  16. ^ a b c Vyalov & Sobolev 1959, p. 31.
  17. ^ a b Smellie & Collerson 2021, p. 615.
  18. ^ a b LeMasurier et al. 1990, p. 446.
  19. ^ a b c Mitchell & Bergman 1991, p. 87.
  20. ISSN 0012-821X
    .
  21. ^ Tingey, McDougall & Gleadow 1983, p. 245.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Sheraton & Cundari 1980, p. 418.
  23. ^ Smellie & Collerson 2021, p. 617.
  24. ^ LeMasurier et al. 1990, p. 10.
  25. ^ Sushchevskaya et al. 2014, p. 1031.
  26. ^ a b Sleep 2006, p. 250.
  27. S2CID 234276184
    .
  28. ^ Sleep 2006, p. 252.
  29. S2CID 253177825
    .
  30. Bibcode:2010EGUGA..1211538G
    .
  31. ^ Smellie & Collerson 2021, p. 615-616.
  32. S2CID 53971785
    .
  33. ^ a b c Tingey, McDougall & Gleadow 1983, p. 241.
  34. ^ Mitchell & Bergman 1991, p. 7.
  35. ^ Migdisova et al. 2023, p. 911.
  36. ^ a b Murphy 2002, p. 981.
  37. ^ Sushchevskaya et al. 2014, p. 1035.
  38. ^ Salvioli-Mariani, Toscani & Bersani 2004, p. 98.
  39. ^ Vyalov & Sobolev 1959, p. 33.
  40. ^ a b Murphy 2002, p. 999.
  41. ^ Sheraton & Cundari 1980, p. 426.
  42. ^ Sushchevskaya et al. 2014, p. 1046.
  43. ^ Tingey, McDougall & Gleadow 1983, p. 243.
  44. ^ Mitchell & Bergman 1991, p. 86.
  45. ^ Tingey, McDougall & Gleadow 1983, p. 244.
  46. ISBN 978-1-4615-8040-9
    , retrieved 2022-03-19
  47. ^ LeMasurier et al. 1990, p. 447.
  48. ^ "Gaussberg". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  49. S2CID 244069283
    .
  50. ^ a b Gregory 1908, p. 33.
  51. ^ Gregory 1908, p. 35.
  52. ^ Murray, James (1907). "Antarctic Rotifera" (PDF). British Antarctic Expedition. 1909.1 (3): 41. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  53. doi:10.1080/03014223.1979.10428408
    .
  54. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1996.tb02342.x
    .
  55. S2CID 251050677
    .
  56. ISSN 1018-3337
    .
  57. ^ Vyalov & Sobolev 1959, p. 35.

Sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaussberg&oldid=1219206531"