nuzzle amongst glacier in one of the world ’s most remote and volcanically active island ranges dwell an incredibly rare lake of lava only now confirmed by scientist in theJournal of vulcanology and Geothermal Research .
Residing on Saunders Island in the South Sandwich Islands , measuring between 90 and 215 m ( 295 and 700 feet ) in diameter , and with temperatures soaring above 1,200 ° C ( 2,160 ° F ) , the lava lake of Mount Michel join just seven other known features of this nature on Earth . Lava lakes are extremely rare with even the most persistent ceasing after just a C .
“ We are beguiled to have divulge such a remarkable geologic feature in the British Overseas Territory , ” said study author and geologist Alex Burton - Johnson in astatement . “ identify the lava lake has improved our understanding of the volcanic activity and hazard on this remote island , and severalize us more about these rare feature , and at long last , it has helped us develop technique to supervise volcano from space . ”
artificial satellite icon from the 1990s showed “ persistent thermal anomalies ” that were not associated with magma overflowing from the volcanic crater , suggesting the world of a lava lake . Low - resolution orbiter range taken in 2001 furthered evidence of its world but could not confirm that the lake live over a long menstruation of fourth dimension . The remoteness and inaccessibility of the neighborhood made scientific proof all the more challenging . Now , research worker with theBritish Antarctic Surveyanalyzed slightly higher resolution satellite image taken between 2003 and 2018 and , incorporating datum dating as far back as 1989 , have found that characteristics of the “ amazing geologic feature ” on Saunders Island are consistent with other lava lake throughout the world .
Mount Michel is an active basaltic stratovolcano residing among some of the world ’s most active volcanoes . Regular eructation have been recorded in the South Sandwich Islands over the last 200 year , but small is known about their body process .
Lava lakes are different than liquefied lava touch off by an explosion and are often find within a volcanic crater whose subsurface circulating magma fill again the lake . The natural process can vary over minutes to decades and can take the form of a ill-humored control surface or “ violent lava fountains ” exploding from the lake . Despite their on the face of it striking flair , lava lake are most often link up with less active volcanos .
Other lava lake are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo , Ethiopia , Antarctica , Hawaii , and Nicaragua .
