December 4, 1967 Eruption of Deception Island

Ring-shaped Deception Island, one of Antarctica's most well known volcanoes, contains a 7-km-wide caldera flooded by the sea. Deception Island is located at the SW end of the Shetland Islands, NE of Graham Land Peninsula, and was constructed along the axis of the Bransfield Rift spreading center. A narrow passageway named Neptunes Bellows provides entrance to a natural harbor that was utilized as an Antarctic whaling station. Numerous vents located along ring fractures circling the low, 14-km-wide island have been active during historical time. Maars line the shores of 190-m-deep Port Foster, the caldera bay. Among the largest of these maars is 1-km-wide Whalers Bay, at the entrance to the harbor. Eruptions from Deception Island during the past 8700 years have been dated from ash layers in lake sediments on the Antarctic Peninsula and neighboring islands.

Eruption History: 1967 Dec 4 (start), 1967 Dec 7 (Stop), Confirmed, VEI 3. Historical Observations. North side (Telefon Bay, Yelcho I)

(above from eference #2432).

1967, December 4, 18:40 (local time). There was an underwater eruption in Telephone Bay on Decepcion Island (Antarctic), during which the water in Pendulum Cove began to boil and churn (Reference #415).