Mount Melbourne was active during the last 3-2.7 million years. Activity has been subdivided into an older Pliocene Cape Washington stage, an early Pleistocene Random Hills stage, the 400,000-100,000 years old Shield Nunatak stage and the recent Mount Melbourne stage. Volcanic activity migrated north from Cape Washington towards the Transantarctic Mountains and eventually became centralized at Mount Melbourne. Mount Melbourne during the last 100,000 years has produced about of magma.