Volcanism and Ice Interactions on Earth and Mars

When volcanoes and ice interact, many unique types of eruptions and geomorphic features result. Volcanism appears to occur on all planetary bodies, but of the inner solar system planets, ice is limited to Earth and Mars. Earth, the water planet, is covered by ice wherever the temperature is cold enough to freeze water for extended periods of time. Ice is found in sheets covering the Antarctic continent and Greenland, as glacial caps in high mountainous regions, as glaciers in polar and temperate regions, and as sea ice in the northern and southern oceans. With changes in climate, landmass, solar radiation, and Earth orbit, ice masses can contract or expand over great distances, as occurred during the Pleistocene Ice Age. The Earth is still in an ice age—at the beginning of the Cenozoic, 65 million years ago, our planet was ice-free. In fact, there is now so much ice that about 70% of the world’s total fresh water is contained within the Antarctic ice sheet.