Mount Berlin

Mount Berlin is a glacier-covered volcano in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the Amundsen Sea.

Presently, fumarolic activity occurs at Mount Berlin and forms ice towers from freezing steam.

Mount Berlin lies in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica,[3] 100 kilometres (62 mi) inland[4] from the Hobbs Coast of the Amundsen Sea.

[6] Mount Berlin reaches a height of 3,478 metres (11,411 ft) above sea level,[3][8] making it the highest volcano in the Flood Range.

[9] It is the western end of the range;[10] Wells Saddle separates it from Mount Moulton volcano farther east.

[8] Mount Berlin's peak is 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi)[11] above the highest local elevation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

[6] Monogenetic volcanoes on the northern flank of Mount Berlin have generated two outcrops of mafic lava and scoria,[25] one of which is found at Mefford Knoll[26][10] on a linear vent.

[19] A ridge extends northwestward from Merrem Peak; at its foot is Brandenberger Bluff,[8] a 300-metre-high (980 ft) outcrop of lava and tuff.

[4] The Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province features 18 central volcanoes and accompanying parasitic vents,[29] which form islands off the coast or nunataks in the ice.

[10] This movement appears to reflect the propagation of crustal fractures, as plate motion is extremely slow in the region.

[32] Ignimbrites are rare in Marie Byrd Land; the outcrop on the southeastern flank of Mount Berlin is an uncommon exception.

[25] Activity in the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province began during the middle Miocene and continued into the later Quaternary; argon-argon dating yielded ages as young as 8,200 years.

[36] The volcanic activity at Mount Berlin may ultimately relate to the presence of a mantle plume that is impinging onto the crust in Marie Byrd Land.

[1] Phenocrysts make up only a small portion of the volume and consist mostly of alkali feldspar, with subordinate apatite, fayalite, hedenbergite and opaque minerals.

Activity then took place at Merrem Peak between 571,000 and 141,000 years ago; during this phase eruptions also occurred on the flanks of Mount Berlin.

After 25,500 years ago activity shifted to Mount Berlin proper[19] and the volcano grew by more than 400 metres (1,300 ft).

Such eruptions would have injected tephra into the stratosphere[d] and deposited it across the southern Pacific Ocean and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

[62] Several tephra layers found in ice cores all across Antarctica have been attributed to West Antarctic volcanoes and in particular to Mount Berlin.

[70] Among eruptions recorded at Mount Berlin are: Several tephra layers between 18,100 and 55,400 years old, found in Siple Dome ice cores, resemble those of Mount Berlin,[83] as do tephras emplaced 9,346[82] and 2,067 BCE (interval 3.0 years) in the Siple Dome A ice core.

Topographical map of Mount Berlin