The latter results are presented by Anitori et al.
The composition of the resident microbial communities was assessed using 16S rRNA and ITS libraries, while metabolic and functional characteristics were analyzed by culturing. Both Warren caves were completely dark, while Harry's Dream received continuous indirect light during the Austral summer, and offered a control to the two dark caves. The fumaroles were studied in three caves, Warren, Warren West and Harry's Dream these displayed, respectively, temperatures of 18Â☌, 2Â☌ and 11Â☌ at our sampling sites. Fumarole gases forming these caves are mostly atmospheric, enriched with water vapor and CO2. Most of the ice caves on Mt Erebus are relatively shallow and illuminated by natural light, but some are deep enough to afford complete darkness. We studied terrestrial DOVEs in fumarolic ice caves on the summit plateau of Mt Erebus, an active volcano on Ross Island, Antarctica (). When compared to other crustal oligotrophic environments, DOVEs are particularly relevant due to their considerable reductive potential, high permeability and the substantial chemical exchange facilitated by their hydrothermal systems. It may serve as the base of the foodweb at the surface via hydrothermal circulation, venting pore fluids, cold seeps or gases, and offer a means for primary carbon fixation. M.ĭark Oligotrophic Volcanic Ecosystems (DOVEs) in the earth's crust may host substantial biomass sustained by chemolithoautotrophic metabolic reactions. ĭark Oligotrophic Volcanic Ecosystems (DOVEs) in Fumarolic Ice Caves of Mt. The image was acquired December 31, 2013, covers an area of 63 x 73 km, and is located at 77.5 degrees south, 167.1 degrees east. Continuous lava-lake activity with minor explosions, punctuated by occasional larger strombolian explosions that eject bombs onto the crater rim, has been documented since 1972, but has probably been occurring for much of the volcano's recent history.
The glacier-covered volcano was erupting when first sighted by Captain James Ross in 1841. An elliptical 500 x 600 m wide, 110-m-deep crater truncates the summit and contains an active lava lake within a 250-m-wide, 100-m-deep inner crater. The 3794-m-high Erebus is the largest of three major volcanoes forming the crudely triangular Ross Island. This image from NASA Terra spacecraft shows Mount Erebus, the world southernmost historically active volcano, overlooking the McMurdo research station on Ross Island.
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