As most of us are aware, a lava lake appeared on the crater floor inside Santiago Crater on Nicaragua’s Volcan Masaya back in December 2015. This however wasn’t the first time Volcan Masaya hosted an active lava lake, Masaya has had a history of having a lava lake appear and disappear over the centuries and it…
It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh. (From Rachel Carson: Silent Spring) The history of life on earth…
Being considered the world leading authority on something is probably more of a curse than a blessing. All of a sudden you have a reputation to defend and everyone will be annoyed with you when you do not agree with their interpretation about what is happening. To top it off there will be a not…
Volcanoes are the tip of an iceberg. 90% of the volcano is hidden, down to the magma chamber 10 km or more below the surface. What we see is only the cone on top of the conduit. The perfect cone of Fuji, or even St Helens (before it blew up), is like the hat on…
Icelandic volcanoes are all about long term projections. They do not do things in the short run, before any eruptions you will see either several intrusive episodes like at Eyjafjallajökull, or you will see signs of steadily mounting pressure prior to an eruption. For some Icelandic volcanoes these two processes goes on for decades, or…
In the beginning – Or elderly ladies do not take no for an answer A little bit more than five years ago I had it with the volcano blogs at the time. Either they where unscientific or was terrible to comment in. My exact plans back then were to leave the volcano blogs to go…
First of all, this article is the official start of our celebratory week and we have no less than two things to celebrate since our five year birthday as a beacon light of volcanic science is on Wednesday. More about that later in the week, first we have another jubilee to take care of. A…
In the previous part I wrote that we would be investigating some of the largest sub-aerial volcanism on the planet as we took a closer look at this the largest known sub-aerial volcanic system in the world. And now it is time to look at volcanism on a stupendous scale. But before we do that…
It’s well known among volcanology lovers that Kamchatka it’s like a giant geological laboratory, a true jewel of nature. I started to feel curiosity about Kamchatka several years ago, and now, after visiting this amazing place 2 times in the last 3 years, my passion about this territory increases day by day. As part of…
I readily admit to enjoying large scale volcanism. Yes, small scale volcanism like Tor Zawar may be a fun diversion, but it is the majestic scale that volcanism can take that get my juices flowing. By now I have touched upon most of the worlds large volcanic features at least in the passing, but there…