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Montagu Island Volcano

Updated: Mar 29, 2024 15:24 GMT -
Shield volcano 1370 m / 4,495 ft
UK, South Sandwich Islands, -58.42°S / -26.33°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Last update: 9 Dec 2021 (Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)

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Typical eruption style: unspecified
Montagu Island volcano eruptions: 2007

Latest nearby earthquakes

No recent earthquakes
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Background

The largest of the South Sandwich Islands, Montagu consists of a massive shield volcano cut by a 6-km-wide ice-filled summit caldera. The summit of the 10 x 12 km wide island rises about 3000 m from the sea floor between Bristol and Saunders Islands. Around 90% of the island is ice-covered; glaciers extending to the sea typically form vertical ice cliffs. The name Mount Belinda has been applied both to the high point at the southern end of the summit caldera and to the young central cone. Mount Oceanite, an isolated 900-m-high peak with a 270-m-wide summit crater, lies at the SE tip of the island and was the source of lava flows exposed at Mathias Point and Allen Point. There was no record of Holocene or historical eruptive activity at Montagu until MODIS satellite data, beginning in late 2001, revealed thermal anomalies consistent with lava lake activity that has been persistent since then. Apparent plumes and single anomalous pixels were observed intermittently on AVHRR images during the period March 1995 to February 1998, possibly indicating earlier unconfirmed and more sporadic volcanic activity.
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Smithsonian / GVP volcano information

Latest satellite images

montaguisland satellite image sat1montaguisland satellite image sat2
Wed, 9 Nov 2005, 06:00

Montagu Island volcano (South Sandwich Islands, UK) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 9 November-15 November 2005 (Continuing Activity)

A partly cloudy ASTER satellite image from 3 November appeared to indicate that large-scale effusive activity from the summit of Montagu Island (Mt. Belinda) had ceased. The image showed that the 3.5-km-long lava flow noted in previous reports (observed entering the sea in an image from 23 September 2005) had extended the shoreline on the N side of island. ... Read all
Wed, 12 Oct 2005, 06:00

Montagu Island volcano (South Sandwich Islands, UK) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 12 October-18 October 2005 (Continuing Activity)

An ASTER satellite image from 23 September showed a 3.5-km-long lava flow extending from the summit of Montagu Island (Mt. Belinda) into the sea. This was the largest effusive event observed during the 4-year-old eruption. ... Read all

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