Mount Michael ( es, Monte Miguel) is an active volcanic

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

, 843 m, surmounting Saunders Island in the

South Sandwich Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

, a British Overseas Territory in the southern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is one of the few volcanoes in an overseas territory of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

was discovered by a British expedition under Cook in 1775, but the mountain was presumably first charted in 1820 by a Russian expedition under Bellingshausen. Recharted in 1930 by DI personnel on the Commander W.M. Carey,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, captain of the '' Discovery II'' at the time of the survey.

Persistent lava lake

In 2019, it was discovered that Mount Michael has a persistent

lava lake Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified (someti ...

, a rare phenomenon which is known to occur at only eight volcanoes in the world.

References

External links

* Michael, Mount Volcanoes of the Atlantic Ocean Holocene stratovolcanoes Active volcanoes Lava lakes {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub