Black Island (), in the

Ross Archipelago Ross Archipelago () is a name for that group of islands which, together with the ice shelf between them, forms the eastern and southern boundaries of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. The most northerly is Beaufort Island, then comes Ross Island, the De ...

, is immediately west of

White Island White Island may refer to: Places Oceania *Whakaari / White Island, volcanic island in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand **2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption *White Island (Otago), Dunedin, New Zealand North America *White Island, Paget, Bermuda ...

. It was first named by the ''Discovery'' Expedition (1901–04) because of its lack of snow. The island's northernmost point is named ''Cape Hodgson'', commemorating Thomas Vere Hodgson, one of the oldest members of the ''Discovery'' Expedition. The highest point is

Mount Aurora Mount Aurora is a round-topped volcanic summit, high, the highest point on Black Island in the Ross Archipelago. It was named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1958–59) after the ''Aurora'', the vessel which conveyed ...

, a principal radio relay point. Mt. Aurora was named between 1958-1959 for the ''Aurora'', one of the ships on

Shackleton's Expedition The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossin ...

. On the minor peak of

Mount Melania Black Island (), in the Ross Archipelago, is immediately west of White Island. It was first named by the ''Discovery'' Expedition (1901–04) because of its lack of snow. The island's northernmost point is named ''Cape Hodgson'', commemorating ...

is the principal earth-based ground-station for the

US Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

. Black Island is volcanic in origin, consisting of a series of

trachytic Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and ...

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...

s and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

pyroclastic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

s. Potassium–argon dating of Black Island

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

s has given ages ranging from 1.69 to 3.8 million years. There are three main

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

s representing three eruptive sequences on Black Island: Nubian Basalt Formation, Aurora Trachyte Formation, and Melania Basalt Formation. The lack of snow is not due to volcanic activity but rather the fact that it is protected from wind by nearby

Minna Bluff Minna Bluff is a rocky promontory at the eastern end of a volcanic Antarctic peninsula projecting deep into the Ross Ice Shelf at . It forms a long, narrow arm which culminates in a south-pointing hook feature (Minna Hook), and is the subject of re ...

References

{{RossDependency-geo-stub

See also

References