earthstory:

Snowy fumarole on Mt Erebus

Located in Antarctica, Mt Erebus is one of the only volcanoes to host a permanent lava lake (seehttp://tinyurl.com/q8mqrjs andhttp://tinyurl.com/ofajpv6). The flanks of the mountain are also active, including a variety of fumaroles, places where hot steam and gases released by the magma deep below in the chamber are released into the atmosphere. These gases are exsolved as the magma rises because the drop in the surrounding pressure affects how much of them the magma can hold dissolved within itself.

When the fumaroles emerge into the icy air, they gradually build up these structures as small amounts of steam crystallise into ice as they leave the vent, slowly creating these surreal ice landforms.

Loz

Image credit: Rich Esser