A repost on the region of Lassen Peak in California, originally written by Henrik in 2013 This article began as a regular piece on Lassen Peak but quickly expanded as I discovered how complex the geology and history of the Lassen Volcanic Complex was. Unlike nearby Shasta, Lassen Peak is but a dacite lava dome, one…
It seemed like yesterday, the day I first discovered volcanic winter while conducting research on the infamous 1993 “storm of the century,” and some passing weather enthusiast had brought up Pinatubo and volcanic winter, and from that moment, I would delve into volcanology headfirst. The first Vixen volcano that caught my eye was the Illustrious…
This is a repost from the archives, an older post by Henrik which has been updated to reflect more recent findings. Did you know there are 255 volcanoes or volcanic features listed in the US? Volcanic activity in North America is surprisingly infrequent. In spite of there being no less than 255 volcanoes or volcanic…
The highest volcano in the world is Cerro Ojos del Salado. It is a stratovolcano in South America’s Central Volcanic Zone, reaching an impressive 6893 meters above sea level (or at least above what sea level used to be). It doesn’t look much: the volcano is a mess of overlapping domes with two separate summits,…
The centre of South Africa is an amazing place. The long drive from Cape Town in-land is exciting for the first two hours, while the road climbs up through the mountains, past vineyards and valleys full of fynbos. Once on the high interior plateau of South Africa, the landscape becomes dry and monotonous – and…
People mellow with age. (At least, most of us do.) The emotions of youth become less all-important and less demanding of our attention. Young people feel that every perceived slight needs addressing. The heat goes to the head and mistakes are made. Older people consider more before responding. The Earth, too, went through a youthful…
Rainbow’s end It is an amazing and powerful image. The wide lava fountain in the caldera like a wall flower in full bloom, with the cloud of volcano seeds above, the lava flowing from the bleeding flower, slowly re-filling one of the largest holes on Earth, and the distant rainbow linking the lava, the caldera,…
There are San Andreas faults in many places. They happen where two rigid continental masses slide past each other at fairly rapid pace. The San Andreas fault separates (‘connect’ would be the wrong word) the American plate from the continental edge of the Pacific plate. It runs along the length of California, in-land up to…
The last time I wrote an article here, it was to talk about Afar Region volcanoes, and I promised more to come. This is still a project that I have in mind, but that will have to wait a little longer until I can get an extended period of free time. Today we will go…
In 1864, three people set out on the journey of a life time. Starting at Snaefellsjokull, Hans, Axel and Otto descended into the crater, found openings to the depth and started on a journey to the centre of the Earth. At least, so Jules Verne told us in his book Voyage au centre de la…