Volcano spews $6,000 worth of gold every day: where it is located
An active volcanic mountain in the cold Antarctic releases gold into the atmosphere every day.
This was reported by SSPDaily.
Mount Erebus, which, along with the island of Despensers, is the only two of 138 active volcanoes in Antarctica, is known for emitting gas containing about 80 grams of crystallized gold worth about $6,000 into the atmosphere every day, according to experts.
The presence of the precious dust was recorded at a distance of 1000 km from the southernmost lava vent on the planet, which reaches a height of 3.7 km.
But the precious metal is just one of many things that erupt from Erebus, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's National Earth Observatory.
"It regularly spews plumes of gas and steam, and sometimes spits out rocks (bombs)," NASA reports.
Gaseous and solid contents are projected through strombolian eruptions.
"Erebus has been erupting continuously since at least 1972," said Conor Bacon of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York.
He added that Erebus is also known for having a "lava lake" in one of its summit craters, formed by molten material at surface level.
"This is actually quite a rare phenomenon, as very specific conditions are required for the surface to never freeze," he added.
However, there is still much to be understood about Antarctica's volcanic format - and what event, cataclysmic or otherwise, could activate the other more than a hundred volcanoes sitting dormant.
Geographic isolation is a key factor in the lack of consistent research.
Both Erebus and Despenser Island "have only a small number of permanent monitoring tools," which "mainly consist of seismometers to detect seismic activity associated with volcanic unrest," according to Bacon.
"From time to time, researchers deploy a more extensive network of instruments for specific studies, but this naturally involves a huge number of logistical challenges compared to many of the much more accessible volcanoes in other parts of the world."