Amsterdam Island is a stratovolcano with scoria cones on its
flanks.
It rises to 881m above sea level.
A recent (100 years ago) aa lava appears to have erupted near
the scientific station at Dumas.
An older volcano is centered around a paleocaldera on the
west side of the island.
A younger caldera which had a lava lake is centered about
2 km east-northeast of the older.
There were at least three phases of outflow from the crater
lake.
25 or so, scoria cones are radially distributed around the
caldera.
The lavas are basaltic ranging from 45 to 50 wt% SiO2.
Potassium argon ages date back to 0.7 Ma.
The island was sighted by Magellan in 1522,
named by Van Diemen in 1633,
and claimed by France in July of 1843.
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