Mt. Erebus Lava Flows
The lava flow captured above in time-lapse is the only known recorded or historical lava flow on Mt. Erebus. Some of the early Antarctic/Ross Sea explorers noted a bright glow near the summit of the volcano, which they attributed to a lava flow. However, the current thinking is that they merely saw the glow of the active lava lake reflecting off the volcanic plume or clouds.
Numerous small to medium volume lava flows in-fill the summit caldera. The latest 40Ar/39Ar geochronology on these intra-caldera flows suggests that the youngest is likely less than 10,000 years old. Flows much larger in size and volume, dated to between ~50,000 years ago and ~250,000 years ago, comprise most of the upper slopes of the volcano. These very large flows mark one of the most active periods of the Mt. Erebus volcano.