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Glaciological studies at negative value in 1970-1971 was a large negative Deception and summer balance caused by high summer temperatures and an unusually early start of the melt season. On Livingston Island, 30 km north of Deception, OLAV ORHEIM a mass balance program was begun on the small ice cap terminating on , on the western Institute of Polar Studies side of the island. Numerous density profiles and The Ohio State University snow soundings were taken, and 25 mass balance stakes were set. These mass balance studies will show whether the mass balance conditions at Deception About one-half of is covered by Island are representative for the South Shetland gaciers, and in the summer much volcanic dust is . The studies this season indicate that, for the blown from the snow- and ice-free areas onto the same elevations, the at Deception Island and surfaces. Snow surfaces in the accumulation Livingston Island experience similar winter balances. aiteas of the glaciers become very dirty by the end of Summer balances are more negative on Deception the summer (albedos of 0.3). After these surfaces Island, however, because of lower surface albedos are buried by the clean winter snow they form at that islands glaciers. The importance of these reliable annual markers. The annual mass balance differences will be better known after the mass history of "Black" Glacier (fig. 1) from 1910 to balance programs have been continued through the tle present was obtained during the 1969-1970 1971-1972 season. season by studying the summer surfaces exposed in Other investigations carried out during the 1970- a 40-rn-high wall of a fissure formed by the 1969 1971 season included meteorological studies at the eruption. The mass balance history of the area was base camp; meteorological, strain, and borehole tem- extended back to about 1750 using the same strati- perature measurements on glacier G 1; mass balance griaphic criteria on 100-rn-high walls of a crater and strain studies above the fissure; drilling to the (fig. 4) formed by the 1970 eruption in a glacier bed of "Black" Glacier from inside the fissure; and 5 km north of "Black" Glacier. mass balance studies east of . The Fourier transform of this mass balance record shows a weak 22-year cycle in the climatic conditions References affecting the mass balance. Major changes in mass Kläy, J-R., and 0. Orheim. 1969. Glaciology and glacial blances of Northern Hemisphere glaciers can also on Deception Island. Journal of the U.S., be recognized in the Deception Island record. IV (4) :125-126. Pyroclastic deposits from eight volcanic eruptions, Orheim, 0. 1970. Glaciological investigations on Deception Island. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., V(4) :95-97. plus seven questionable volcanic deposits, were found Orheim, 0. In press. Volcanic activity on Deception Island, in the walls of the glacier crater. Considered with the . In: Antarctic Geology and Geo- evidence of six other eruptions found in the glacier physics, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo. fissure (Orheim, in press) these deposits show a cyclic pattern in volcanic activity for the past 200 years: several eruptions in one decade followed by several decades having no eruptions. Conclusions about cycles, Geological investigations however, are tentative, since the observed layers indi- cate a minimum number of volcanic events. The pyro- on Deception Island clastic deposits record only eruptions that occurred nearby or upwind. P. E. BAKER and I. MCREATH The 1970-1971 glaciological program included several other studies besides the aforementioned crater Department of Earth Sciences investigations. The mass balance studies that were University of Leeds started on glacier G 1 (fig. 1) during the 1968-1969 season were continued with small modifications. G 1 is 8 to 10 km from the recent eruptions and is repre- The recent series of eruptions on Deception Island sentative of the climatic conditions on the island. (1967, 1969, and 1970) has provided a unique The net mass balance averaged over the glacier area opportunity for studying the style and progress of volcanicity associated with an active fault. was —0.5 m for the 1970-1971 balance year, in Of particular interest have been the migration of contrast to the previous 2 years when the glacier the eruptive centers, the compositional variations of was in approximate balance (Klay and Orheim, the in successive phases, and the effects of 1969; Orheim, 1970). The main reason for the subglacial and submarine activity. A study of the July—August 1971 85 older formations of the island, using the work of the rare-earth elements and, if this is successful, to Hawkes (1961) as a starting point, has been an analyze a few samples for these elements. A program essential corollary to these investigations. of mineral analysis using both separated minerals and electron microprobe analysis is under way. The sequence of recent events has been closely followed by scientists from several nations, including We gratefully acknowledge the generous support , , the United States, and the United received from the Argentine Antarctic Institute, the Kingdom. A team of British scientists supported by Royal Society, and the . the Royal Society and the British Antarctic Survey studied the 1967 and 1969 eruptions (Baker et al., References 1969); and the Royal Society provided funds for an extension of these investigations to include the 1970 Baker, P. E., T. G. Davies, and M. J . Roobol. 1969. Volcanic eruption. On this latter occasion, however, full activity at Deception Island in 1967 and 1969. Natur, logistic support was kindly provided by the Argentine 224 (5219): 553-560. and I. McReath. 1971. 1970 volcanic erupticn Antarctic Institute and the Argentine Navy. We were at Deception Island. Nature (Physical Science), 231 at Deception Island December 8 to 23, 1970, form- (18): 5-9. ing part of the international group based at the Hawkes, D. D., 1961. The geology of the South Shet1ard Argentine station on Fumarole Bay. Islands II, The geology and petrology of Deception Islanl. Dependencies Survey. Scientific Report, The latest volcanic eruption (Baker and McReath, 27. 43 p. 1971) occurred on August 12 and 13, 1970, as inferred from seismic data and the time at which ash fell on (Capitán Arturo Prat Station) and King George Island (Bellingauzen Sta- tion). The activity created a new strip of land across Volcanic evolution at Deception Island: from Cross Hill in the west to the 1967 land center in the east. The arcuate distribution of studies during 1970-1971 the vents seems to have been determined by the cal- dera fault zone. The new land area is for the most part NESTOR H. FOURCADE only a few meters above sea level, and lagoons or lakes occupy several of the craters. The small island that Argentine Antarctic Institute had formed during the eruption was partially destroyed in this latest episode, and its rem- nant was incorporated into the new strip of land. The During the 1970-1971 summer, the Argentine crater lake of the 1967 land center was obliterated by Antarctic Institute, in association with the Inter- a mudflow generated at a new crater in the glacier national Institute of Volcanology at Catania, Italy, above. Two older lakes were also drained as a conse- carried out scientific work at Deception Island. quence of the physiographic changes. Activities involved a structural volcanological study The products of the 1970 activity, like those of of the island and a magmatic study of the flows the two previous events, were entirely pyroclastic; in the area. Both studies are helping us to determine an isopach map for these deposits was compiled the evolution of the from its beginnings to largely on the basis of depths to the snow surface its present state. Samples of materials ejected from over Kendall Terrace. The ash was evidently dis- the 1970 eruption were collected, temperatures were tributed under the influence of a southwesterly wind, measured, and the 1970 morphological changes were the finer material being carried northeastward along plotted on maps. the length of the South Shetland Islands. The varia- The character of the eruption, like the two previous tion in chemical composition of the pyroclastics and ones, was merely explosive, with abundant ejection its apparent relationship to the geographical situation of volcanic bombs, , ashes, and water vapor. of the source vent suggests control on a very local Kendall Terrace was completely covered by an scale. ash mantle, lapilli, bombs, and rock fragments that Laboratory work has included the examination of emerged from the volcanic neck. The islet that some 60 samples—in thin section and by major and emerged during the eruption in December 1967 is trace element analysis—from a wide range of the now reduced to a small promontory located onshore, rocks exposed on the island. On this basis, about and its interior craters have disappeared. 20 samples have been selected for further study, Lava samples from the 1970 and previous erup- analyzing for a further set of trace elements by optical tions are being analyzed at the laboratories of the spectrography and for initial strontium isotope ratios. Argentine Antarctic Institute and the International We also hope to develop a technique for analyzing Institute of Volcanology at Catania.

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