A fumarolic ice tower is a tower of ice produced by

fumarole A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or another rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcani ...

s of volcanic activity in an environment whose ambient temperature is below the freezing point of water. They are often underlain by large ice caves.

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the southernmost active volcano on Earth, located on Ross Island in the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. With a summit elevation of , it is the second most prominent mountain in Antarctica (after Mount Vinson) and the second ...

, the world's southernmost active volcano, is one producer of these ice towers. The ambient temperature at its location is always well below water's freezing point, and the diffuse degassing of carbon dioxide through the steaming warm ground around its flanks causes ice to first melt, then vaporize, and then accumulate into chimney-like towers. Mount Berlin is another Antarctic volcanic mountain that produced such towers.

References

Glaciovolcanism Fumaroles {{Volcanism-stub