Protector Shoal is a

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridge ...

, also called

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise a ...

, which rises gently from an ocean depth of to about below sea level approximately NW of Zavodovski Island in the South Sandwich Islands chain. The last eruption occurred during March 1962. Protector Shoal is the only volcano in the arc that has erupted

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained ( aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The min ...

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

References

* * * Landforms of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Volcanoes of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Seamounts of the Atlantic Ocean Former islands from the last glacial maximum {{volcanology-stub

See also

References