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Marion Island

Shield volcano · South Africa · 1230m

Marion Island, South Africa's only historically active volcano, is seen from the NE with the meteorological station in the foreground. The red scoria cone is the lowest of a NE-trending chain of cones extending from the near the summit of the shield volcano. The meteorological station sits on Pleistocene lava flows. The island includes about 150 scoria cones and coastal tuff cones, most of which formed during the Holocene. The first historical eruption took place in 1980.
Marion Island, South Africa's only historically active volcano, is seen from the NE with the meteorological station in the foreground. The red scoria cone is the lowest of a NE-trending chain of cones extending from the near the summit of the shield volcano. The meteorological station sits on Pleistocene lava flows. The island includes about 150 scoria cones and coastal tuff cones, most of which formed during the Holocene. The first historical eruption took place in 1980. · Photo: Photo by Ian Meiklejohn (University of Pretoria). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Shield volcano
Country
South Africa
Region
Somalian-Antarctic Volcanic Regions / Marion Hotspot Volcano Group
Elevation
1230m
Coordinates
-46.900, 37.750
Last eruption
2004
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Oceanic crust (< 15 km)
Landform
Shield
Major rock type
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Geological summary

Marion Island lies at the SW end of a submarine plateau immediately south of the SW Indian Ocean Ridge, opposite Prince Edward Island. The low profile of the 24-km-wide dominantly basaltic and trachybasaltic volcano is formed by two young shields that rise above a flat-topped submarine platform. The island includes about 150 cinder cones, smaller scoria cones, and coastal tuff cones. The earliest dated eruptions took place about 450,000 years ago, but much of the island is covered by Holocene aa and pahoehoe lava flows, and more than 130 scoria cones formed during the Holocene. Many of these appear younger than the 4,020 BP peat layer overlying one of the flows (Verwoerd, 1981). Unvegetated lava flows appear to be only a few hundred years old (Verwoerd, 1967). An eruption in 1980 produced explosive activity and lava flows from a 5-km-long fissure that extended from the summit to the west coast.

From Wikipedia

The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited subantarctic volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are administered by South Africa. They are named Marion Island and Prince Edward Island.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
1980~1982 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 12002~2004 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 119801985199219972002

Detailed timeline

  1. 2004VEI 1Observed
    2004-06-24 – 2004-06-24
    South side of island
  2. 1980VEI 1Observed
    1980-09-16 – Ongoing
    E-W fissure from summit to W coast

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.