Among the dozens of volcanoes present, mainly in Western Antarctica and Marie Byrd Land, Mount Erebus stands out, the highest and southernmost active volcano in the world. This geological giant was discovered erupting in 1841 by the British explorer Sir James Clark Ross, who also named the island on which it stands.
From its 3,794 meter high summit, Mount Erebus not only towers over the white continent but continues to amaze with a glowing lava lake that has been active since 1972. In addition to regular flows of gas and steam, Erebus is known to launch “volcanic bombs” into the sky , enormous blocks of partially molten rock.
But the real surprise was the discovery that its gas jets contain microscopic crystals of gold, up to 80 grams per day, distributing a treasure worth about $6,000 into the Antarctic air up to 1,000 kilometers away. However, Mount Erebus is also infamous for the 1979 plane crash, when an Air New Zealand flight crashed into it during a tourist tour, killing 257 people.
The tragedy, which occurred in conditions of poor visibility and aggravated by a “whiteout” effect which made the volcano indistinguishable from the surrounding frozen ground, it marked the end of the airline’s scenic flights over Antarctica.
The photos taken by the passengers, found intact in their aircraft, documented the last moments before the impact, disproving the hypothesis of bad weather conditions and raising a long debate on responsibility and safety in tourist flights in such remote and inaccessible areas.
By the way, did you know that diamonds could also erupt from volcanoes?
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