The 3,794 m high Erebus volcano in Antarctica spews gold dust and many types of gas every day.
Scientists found that Erebus, the tallest active volcano in Antarctica, spews golden dust particles along with gas. In fact, American geologists first discovered this in 1991. Recent research shows results consistent with the 1991 discovery. Both then and now, experts find gold in gas emitted from the volcano as well as the surrounding snow, Interesting Engineering reported on April 19.
Scientists’ assessment shows that the amount of gold spewed out every day is about 80 grams, worth $6,000. Philip Kyle, a researcher at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, explained that the gold may have originated from volcanic rock. When lava from the 3,794 m high mountain spewed hot gas, carrying some gold dust into the air. The Erebus volcano spewed gold dust ranging from 0.1 to 20 micrometers in gas and 60 micrometers in the surrounding snow. Erebus is among the 138 active volcanoes in Antarctica, located on Ross Island. This is one of two active volcanoes in the area and spews yellow dust every day.
Researcher Conor Bacon at the Earth Observatory at Columbia University, New York, said the volcano has been erupting continuously since 1972. According to Bacon, Erebus has a lava lake in a crater on its summit. Such lava lakes are actually quite rare due to the unique conditions required to ensure the surface never freezes.
Bacon speculates the Erebus volcano and the island have a limited number of permanent monitoring devices, mainly including seismometers to detect seismic activity associated with the volcano. Sometimes, researchers will deploy a more extensive network of equipment to conduct surveys, but that often comes with huge transportation challenges because of other more accessible volcanoes around the world. gender.
