The Seal Nunataks are part of Graham Land and were embedded within the Larsen Ice Shelf[1] until its northern margin collapsed between 1986 and 1996,[3] rising from about 500 metres (1,600 ft) below sea level.

[4] They were discovered by the Norwegian Carl Anton Larsen in December 1893,[1] who also identified them as volcanoes and named them Seal Islands.

[6] The Seal Nunataks are part of a volcanic province in West Antarctica which extends over the Antarctic Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land and Ross Island.

[2] The nunataks are for the most part tuyas[8] consisting of ridges with lengths of less than 1 to 6 kilometres (0.62 to 3.73 mi) flanked with scree deposits and occasionally by primary volcanic features.

[14] Lineaments associated with the former subduction of oceanic fracture zones west of the Antarctic Peninsula may have played a role in establishing the alignments of the Seal Nunataks volcanoes.

[20] The discoverer Captain Larsen observed volcanic activity on Christensen Nunatak and Lindenberg Island, but the reliability of these reports is considered to be unclear.

[21] However, some reported fumarolic activity may be due to solar evaporation of snow, and tephra layers were only found in moraines, implying that it might not have been genuine volcanic eruptions.