Mount Belinda

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Mount Belinda
False-color image of the ongoing eruption of Mount Belinda (September 23, 2005). The graph indicates the amount of radiant heat (in megawatts).
Elevation	1,370 m (4,495 ft)
Location	Montagu Island, South Sandwich Islands
Prominence	1,370 m (4,495 ft)
Coordinates	58°26′S, 26°20′W
Type	Stratovolcano
Last eruption	2006 (ongoing)

Mount Belinda is a stratovolcano located on Montagu Island, in the South Sandwich Islands of the Scotia Sea.

Belinda was inactive until late 2001, when it erupted. The eruption produced large quantities of basaltic lava, melting the thick cover of ice that had accumulated while the volcano lay dormant, and "producing a marvelous 'natural laboratory'; for studying lava-ice interactions relevant to the biology of extreme environments as well as to processes believed to be important on the planet Mars."

Mount Belinda has been in a persistent state of eruption since 2001. Far from slowing down, the activity throughout 2005 marks the highest levels yet. An increase in activity in the fall of 2005 has produced an active 3.5-kilometre-long lava flow, extending from the summit cone of Mount Belinda all the way down into the sea. The flow spreads northeast from the volcanic vent, and then becomes diverted due north by an arête.

[edit] References

• First recorded eruption of Mount Belinda volcano (Montagu Island), South Sandwich Islands, Bull Volcanol (2005) 67:415–422 (PDF)
• Global Volcanism Program
• Ongoing Eruption of Mount Belinda. NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved on 2006-05-02.
• Mount Belinda Erupts. NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved on 2006-05-02.
• LeMasurier, W. E.; Thomson, J. W. (eds.) (1990). Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, 512 pp. ISBN 0-87590-172-7. 

[edit] External links

• News@Nature story on the 2005 eruption (subscription required)