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Mount Melbourne is a 2,733-metre-high (8,967 ft) ice-covered stratovolcano in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is an elongated mountain with a snow-filled summit caldera and numerous parasitic vents; a volcanic field surrounds the edifice. Mount Melbourne has a volume of about 180 cubic kilometres (43 cu mi) and last erupted between 1862 and 1922. Its volcanism is related both to the West Antarctic Rift and to local tectonic structures such as faults and grabens. Mount Melbourne has mainly erupted trachyandesite and trachyte, which formed within a magma chamber; basaltic rocks are less common. Geothermal heat flow on Mount Melbourne has created an unusual ecosystem formed by mosses and liverworts that grow between fumaroles, ice towers, and ice hummocks. This type of vegetation is found at other volcanoes of Antarctica and develops when volcanic heat generates meltwater from snow and ice, thus allowing plants to grow in the cold Antarctic environment. (Full article...)

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In the news

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NASA releases the first operational image (shown) taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Protesters storm the President's House in Colombo, Sri Lanka, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to agree to resign.
Angola's former president José Eduardo dos Santos dies at the age of 79.
Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is assassinated while giving a speech in Nara.

On this day

July 12

German tanks at Prokhorovka

927 – King Æthelstan of England secured the submission of four northern rulers: Constantine II of Scotland, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred I of Bamburgh, and Owain ap Dyfnwal of Strathclyde.
1488 – Choe Bu, an official of the Joseon dynasty, returned to Korea after months of shipwrecked travel in China.
1943 – World War II: German and Soviet forces engaged each other at the Battle of Prokhorovka (tanks pictured), one of the largest tank battles in military history.
1962 – The English rock band the Rolling Stones played their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London.

Margaret Theresa of Spain (b. 1651)
George Eastman (b. 1854)
Elsie de Wolfe (d. 1950)

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Today's featured picture

St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, also known as Brandenburg Cathedral, is the largest medieval church in Brandenburg an der Havel in the German state of Brandenburg. Construction began in 1165 as a Romanesque aisleless church (Saalkirche), and it was later expanded to a three-aisled, Brick Gothic basilica. Its patron saints are Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostle. This photograph depicts the cathedral's nave, with white vaulted ceilings and red brick archways, windows, and floor, filled with rows of wooden chairs.

Photograph credit: Mathias Krumbholz

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