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Big Ben (Heard Island)

Volcano on the Australian subantarctic territory

Field	Value
photo	ISS018-E-038182 lrg.jpg
photo_caption	Satellite image of the southern tip of Heard Island. Cape Arkona is seen on the left side of the image, with Lied Glacier just above and Gotley Glacier just below. Big Ben and Mawson Peak are seen at the lower right side of the image.
elevation_m	2745
elevation_ref
prominence_m	2745
prominence_ref
listing	Country high point
Ultra
location	Heard Island, Australia
map	Indian Ocean
map_caption	Location of Big Ben
map_size	350
label_position	right
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	RAN Heard Island 291
type	Stratovolcano
age	Quaternary
last_eruption	2012 – ongoing (as of 2021)

Ultra Big Ben (previously known as Big Ben Peak, Old Ben Mountain, Emperor William Peak and Kaiser Wilhelm-Berg) is a volcanic massif that dominates the geography of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It is a stratovolcano with a diameter of about 25 km. Its highest point is Mawson Peak, which is 2745 m above sea level. Much of it is covered by ice, including 14 major glaciers which descend from Big Ben to the sea. Big Ben is the highest mountain in Australian states and territories, except for the Australian Antarctic Territory. The Australian Antarctic Territory is a territorial claim unrecognised by most other countries, meaning that Big Ben is the highest mountain over which Australia has true sovereignty. A smaller volcanic headland, the Laurens Peninsula, extends about 10 km to the northwest, created by a separate volcano, Mount Dixon; its highest point is Anzac Peak, at 715 m.

Big Ben was first summited on 25 January 1965 by five members of the Southern Indian Ocean Expedition to Heard Island (sometimes referred to as the Patanela expedition).

Volcanic activity

Big Ben formed about one million years ago. Volcanic activity at the cone has been known since 1881. An eruption occurred in 1993. Satellite images detected eruptions during 2000. On 2 February 2016, observations from Atlas Cove, 15 km northwest of Mawson Peak, showed plumes up to 1 km high over the volcano. Satellite images showed hotspots at various times from 2003 to 2008, and during September 2012. A further eruption was reported on 2 February 2016, and was recorded by scientists who happened to be in the area on an expedition. Big Ben does not endanger humans because Heard Island is uninhabited.

Sentinel-2 satellite imagery suggests another eruption has occurred in May 2023.

Sentinel-2 image of Heard Island showing volcanic activity. Note that this is not a true color image, thermal activity has been highlighted using short wave infrared channels.

Big Ben is in a remote location, and without regular observation it is possible that eruptions have occurred at other times.

References

{{cite gnis
"Heard". [[Smithsonian Institution]].
Division, c=AU;o=Commonwealth of Australia;ou=Department of the Environment;ou=Australian Antarctic. "Frequently asked questions".
["Antarctic Region"](https://www.state.gov/key-topics-office-of-ocean-and-polar-affairs/antarctic/#:~:text=Seven%20countries%20(Argentina%2C%20Australia%2C,has%20not%20made%20a%20claim.).
Temple, Phillip. (1966). "The Sea and the Snow". Cassell Australia.
McCarthy, Marty. (25 January 2019). "Australia's Heard Island: A mysterious land of fire and ice". ABC News.
(July 2024)
[http://www.volcanolive.com/heardisland.html Heard Island Volcano - John Seach]
"Scientists film Big Ben sub-Antarctic volcano eruption".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

active-volcanoes pleistocene-stratovolcanoes holocene-stratovolcanoes volcanoes-of-heard-island-and-mcdonald-islands stratovolcanoes-of-antarctica ultra-prominent-peaks-of-oceania

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