Antarctica has a unique volcanic history. Today, volcanic activity occurs on islands located off the coast of Antarctica. One of the most active islands is Ross Island which has 4 volcanoes: Mount Erebus, Mount Terror, Mount Bird, and Mount Haddington. The most active of these four volcanoes is Mount Erebus, a stratovolcano, which has been continuously erupting since 2019 and is most famous for its lava lake. About 252 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic extinction event marked the transition between the Paleozoic era and Mesozoic era. This event included repeated meteor strikes which produced large volcanic eruptions releasing large quantities of methane gas into the atmosphere. During this time, Antarctica was still attached to South America. When the volcanoes erupted, whole forests growing in Antarctica were covered in lava. In 2015, a group of researchers led by Erik Gulbranson, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, discovered the Allan Hills fossil forest which dates back to the Triassic Period, about 252 to 200 million years ago. Many fossil forests have been found throughout Antarctica and are of interest to scientists around the world.