Geothermal ice caves on Mt Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica

Abstract

A 400-m-long system of ice caverns forms the subsurface extension of one of the many fumarolic ice towers on the summit plateau of Mt Erebus. The cave system consists of a series of branching loops of passages that average 4 m high and wide and terminates in an ice cavern about 25 m high and wide with a floor about 60 m below the surface. Air temperatures within the cave varied from just below freezing to + 1.4°c. Zones of increased heat flow are considered to control the origin and the geometry of the cave system; the highest ground temperature measured at 15 cm depth was 16.8°c.