Is there a possibility that volcanic and seismic activity from volcanoes such as Mt Erebus could cause part of the Antarctic continent to break off?
There is a slight risk that volcanic and seismic activity could cause a loss of ice from the Antarctic. Heat generated by volcanic activity could melt ice, especially if the volcano was actually under the ice sheet, having been buried by 30 million years of snowfall. Parts of the Antarctic ice sheet are breaking off all the time. Iceberg production is the final part of the flow of glaciers downhill to the sea. It is only when there is more ice breaking away than in earlier years can we be sure that the ice cover is shrinking. Currently this is the case in the warmest part of the Antarctic – the Antarctic Peninsula. The ice is retreating and the scientists are now very sure that climate warming is to blame. I don’t know about the whole of Antarctica but I can tell you about the plant and animal life in our local area. Wherever you go around Rothera and its local islands you will see lots of lichens. There are approximately 100 species on the Antarctica Peninsula, and they come in many e
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