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…
It has often been pointed out that the deadliest volcano is the one you did not know about. This is our dilemma. When you try to identify the potentially most dangerous ones, by necessity you have to go out on a limb to find those that are not well known nor well studied and there…
Before I start on the subject of this post, we would like to thank everyone for their input and support of VC recently! It is good to see so many of our contributors, old and new, and some of the input is truly staggering in its quality. Thank you! Also, we will let the…
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…
A couple of days ago, VC reader VerboselyLaconic posted an interesting observation about the Andean Volcanos of Equador and Columbia. Here is what he said: It seems almost a rule that when they erupt BIG, it is a lateral blast, and all but a few of them blow in a westerly direction. Now, I have…
As we labour to rescue what can be saved, we shall continue from where we last were. Here again is that fabulous post by Albert, alas, without the original reader comments: Volcanic eruptions have become major attractions, and even rather minor eruptions can make front page news. In modern days, any volcano deciding to erupt…
About 50 km from the capital of Manila (pop 1,652,171, urbanised area 22 million+) lies Taal Volcano, near the middle of the 25 to 30 km wide Taal Caldera which was formed by a series of very large eruptions between 140,000 – 5,380 BP, the last of which has been identified as a VEI 6…
For sheer beauty, few volcanoes can match the symmetrical cone of Mayon as it rises almost directly out of the Gulf of Albay, not even mount Fuji itself. Indeed, the cone is considered the world’s most perfectly formed volcano for its symmetry ( David Lee, 2008). Added to that, a beautiful tropical setting, tranquil blue…
What is a better starting point for our proposed list of new Decade Volcanoes than a volcano that operates in a way that almost no other volcano does? As the number ten of our list we hereby present a volcano that equally blends being an artesian well and an andesitic tephra producer of note. Without…
The current Decade Volcano Program First of all, let me make one thing abundantly clear. This is a list put forth by us as suggestion for a new Decade Volcano program. But, in the end it is the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) that decides if there will be…