What’s Up in Iceland?

This is a question that gets asked regularly and in particular when there is a lot of earthquake activity going on. Surely this must “mean something”! Well, yes, but not necessarily something volcanic. In fact, most of it is not volcanic at all but tectonic as the North American and Eurasian Plates slowly separate, driven…

A Wedge of Worry – Aso Caldera (NDVP #4)

Japan is a major economic power in the modern world. Currently, its economy is the third largest in the entire world and exceeded only by those of the USA and The Peoples Republic of China. But as well as being one of the most economically and technologically advanced countries, Japan is also among the most…

Jan Mayen: volcano in the freezer

Norway is a country best known for its history, oil, mountains, and an egalitarian attitude to life. Volcanoes are somewhat lacking in this list. But Norway does indeed have one active volcano, given to it by the League of Nations. It is located on the arctic island of Jan Mayen, which became a Norwegian possession,…

A Follow-up on the Scientific Project

Last month, prompted by VC-reader VerboselyLaconic’s observation about the volcanoes of Colombia and Ecuador seemingly exhibiting a trend to suffer flank collapses in a preferred direction, we invited our readers to search worldwide in order to establish whether or not this was a general observation or if it only applied to the volcanoes mentioned by…

The Toba Supereruption

Lake Toba is a beautiful place. The largest and deepest lake in Southeast Asia, it contains an island (Samosir) almost the size of Singapore – the fifth largest lake island in the world, and the largest island-within-an-island. Samosir contains two smaller lakes, Lake Sidihoni and Lake Aek Natonang – the former even contains its own…

Mountain of Greatness – DVP # 7

Few volcanoes on the planet represent such an awesome sight as the majestic Mount Cameroon. It stretches from the edge of the Atlantic at Bakingili Beach and reaches an astounding height of 4040 meters. Due to its prominence it is regularly dusted with snow at the top. Mount Cameroon, or as I am used to…