The island is composed of lava flows capped by a cinder cone with a small summit crater.

Geothermal heat keeps parts of the island ice-free, and the youthful morphology of the volcano suggests that it was last active within the last 1,000 years.

A stone hut built in February 1903 by shipwreck survivors, together with the grave of an expedition member, and the cairn built on the highest point of the island to draw the attention of rescuers, have been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 41), following a proposal by Argentina and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

[3] The shipwrecked crew of the Endurance planned to travel to the island and use stores there that were left by the Swedish Expedition, but the ice pack that they were stranded on eventually drifted too far east.

[4] The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a very large breeding colony of about 100,000 pairs of Adélie penguins.