![]() However there are no subducting plates near Mount Erebus. The plate pulls down with it a tremendous amount of water, which causes the top plate to melt and fissures of magma to flow to the surface. He went on to explain that most volcanoes around the Pacific Rim, like Mount Saint Helens in Washington State and Mount Fuji in Japan, are formed when two tectonic plates collide, and one is forced under the other, a process known as subduction. “Mount Erebus is perhaps the best example in the world of a carbon dioxide dominated volcanic system,” Wannamaker said. The team is braving the Antarctic elements because Mount Erebus can offer up insight into the structure and properties of an uncommon but important type of volcano. Antarctic Program, and the Marsden Fund, of the Royal Society of New Zealand, through Antarctica New Zealand. ![]() The collaboration is supported by the National Science Foundation, which manages the U.S. They’re using a system called magnetotellurics to map its underground network of magma conduits and chambers. The team of six just wrapped up their second of three seasons deploying electric and magnetic field sensors across Erebus to understand what lies beneath the surface of the volcano. “In a sense we’re trying to do a big CAT scan of the volcano,” said Phil Wannamaker, a research professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Mount Erebus is one of relatively few active rifting volcanoes in the world.
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