The Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province is a

volcanic field A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes ...

in northern Marie Byrd Land of West Antarctica, consisting of over 18 large shield volcanoes, 30 small volcanic centres and possibly many more centres buried under the

West Antarctic Ice Sheet The Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West Antarctica, the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains that lies in the Western Hemisphere. The WAIS is classified as ...

. It overlies a wide and long dome that has formed as a result of fault blocking within the

West Antarctic Rift System The West Antarctic Rift System is a series of rift valleys between East and West Antarctica. It encompasses the Ross Embayment, the Ross Sea, the area under the Ross Ice Shelf and a part of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica, reaching to the ...

. Volcanism in the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province commenced at least 36 million years ago during the latest

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

epoch. This activity has continued into the current

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

epoch, with the largest volcanic eruption in the last 10,000 years having possibly taken place about 2,300 years ago.

Volcanoes

Ames Range The Ames Range is an Antarctic range of snow-covered, flat-topped, steep-sided mountains, extending in a N-S direction for 32 km (20 mi) and forming a right angle with the eastern end of the Flood Range in Marie Byrd Land. They were di ...

Mount Andrus Mount Andrus is a shield volcano 3.2 km (2 mi) SE of Mount Boennighausen in the SE extremity of Ames Range, in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1964–68. Named by US-ACAN for Lt. Carl ...

Mount Boennighausen Mount Boennighausen is a snow-covered mountain (2,970 m) located 4 nautical miles (7 km) south-southwest of Mount Kosciuszko in the Ames Range of Marie Byrd Land. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy ...

Mount Kauffman Mount Kauffman is a prominent mountain, high, that surmounts the northwest end of the Ames Range in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959–65, and named by ...

** Mount Kosciusko * Crary Mountains ** Boyd Ridge ** Mount Frakes ** Mount Steere ** Mount Rees *

Executive Committee Range The Executive Committee Range is a mountain range consisting of five major volcanoes, which trends north-south for along the 126th meridian west, in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. The complete range was discovered by the United States Antarctic Ser ...

** Mount Cumming ** Mount Hampton ** Mount Hartigan **

Mount Sidley Mount Sidley is the highest dormant volcano in Antarctica, a member of the Volcanic Seven Summits, with a summit elevation of . It is a massive, mainly snow-covered shield volcano which is the highest of the five volcanic mountains that comprise ...

** Mount Waesche *

Flood Range The Flood Range () is an Antarctic range of large snow-covered mountains extending in an E-W direction for about 96 km (60 mi) and forming a right angle with the southern end of the Ames Range in Marie Byrd Land. Discovered by the Byrd ...

Mount Berlin Mount Berlin is a high glacier-covered volcano in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, from the Amundsen Sea. It is a mountain with parasitic vents that consists of two coalesced volcanoes; Berlin proper with the wide Berlin Crater and Merrem P ...

Mount Bursey Mount Bursey is a broad, ice-covered mountain, high, which forms the eastern end of the Flood Range in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. It was discovered by members of the United States Antarctic Service (USAS) on aerial flights in 1940, and named ...

*** Starbuck Crater **

Mount Moulton Mount Moulton is a complex of ice-covered shield volcanoes, standing east of Mount Berlin in the Flood Range, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. It is named for Richard S. Moulton, chief dog driver at West Base. The volcano is of Pliocene age and ...

McCuddin Mountains The McCuddin Mountains are a small cluster of mountains in Antarctica consisting mainly of two large mountains, Mount Flint and Mount Petras, along with several scattered peaks and nunataks. Located in Marie Byrd Land, east of the Ames Range, ...

Mount Petras Mount Petras is a mountain in Antarctica. It consists of volcanic rocks, most of Cretaceous age but there is also an Eocene-Oligocene volcanic system that may have been emplaced inside of thin ice. It is part of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Provin ...

** Mount Flint * Mount Murphy *

Mount Siple Mount Siple is a potentially active Antarctic shield volcano, rising to and dominating the northwest part of Siple Island, which is separated from the Bakutis Coast, Marie Byrd Land, by the Getz Ice Shelf. Its youthful appearance strongly sugg ...

Mount Takahe Mount Takahe is a snow-covered shield volcano in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, from the Amundsen Sea. It is a mountain with parasitic vents and a caldera up to wide. Most of the volcano is formed by trachytic lava flows, but hyaloclastite ...

Toney Mountain Toney Mountain is an elongated snow-covered shield volcano, long and rising to at Richmond Peak, located southwest of Kohler Range in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Toney Mountain is an elongated volcanic massif that rises from a basaltic lava ...

** Downs Cone ** Ellis Cone

References

{{reflist, 30em Geologic provinces Volcanoes of Marie Byrd Land Eocene volcanoes Oligocene volcanoes Miocene volcanoes Pliocene volcanoes Pleistocene volcanoes Holocene volcanoes Volcanic fields