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Volcanic peak Mawson Peak in Australia (image taken on May 25)
Photo: Pierre Markuse / Sentinalhub
A few small dots glow in the gray of the mountain: A satellite image shows that the Australian volcano Mawson Peak of the Big Ben massif spews lava.
The volcano is located on the uninhabited island of Heard Island near Antarctica. The picture was taken on 25 May, it is a compilation with an infrared image. The »Guardian« had reported, for example.
"What is happening here is quite normal and creates lava flows," said volcanologist Teresa Ubide of the University of Queensland, according to the report. The volcano is a so-called intraplate volcano, which is located at the edge of a tectonic plate. As a rule, such volcanic eruptions are not very explosive and emit comparatively little ash.
The source of the magma could be the Earth's upper mantle, Jodi Fox told the Guardian. She is a research associate at the University of Tasmania. "That's really pretty typical of the behavior of the magma," she said, according to the report. "These are relatively slow-moving streams with few, if any, explosions." According to her, Heard Island is probably between 750,000 and 500,000 years old.
Even a few days later, traces of the eruption were still visible. Although it was cloudy, the satellite was able to photograph the summit – where volcanic activity is brightly displayed.
Ani