
Wolf Volcano off the coast of South America had last erupted in 2015. But on Friday, lava poured down the mountain’s sides and clouds of ash spilled out over the Pacific Ocean. Now Ecuador’s government is monitoring the volcano.
The Galapagos Islands, a chain of Pacific Ocean islands, are part of the country of Ecuador. Ocean volcanos formed these islands, which lie nearly 600 miles off the coast of mainland South America.
The Galapagos are famous for giant tortoises and tropical penguins—and volcanos. The 5,580-foot Wolf Volcano is one of numerous active volcanos in the chain.
A week ago, Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island began rumbling. Shortly before midnight local time on Wednesday, Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute scientists say a cloud of gas and ash from the mountain rose to 12,444 feet above sea level. Two days later, the tallest mountain in the Galapagos Islands was still erupting.
Images taken from afar and circulated by the Ecuador government showed glowing lava piercing the pre-dawn darkness.
Ecuador’s Emergency Operations Committee says the new eruption on Isabela Island, the largest in the Galapagos chain, didn’t pose a risk to people or to local native species. That’s because populated areas lie at the opposite side of the island.
But Ecuador’s Environment Ministry says eight people, including national park guards and scientists, were evacuated from the area. The scientists had been doing field work on pink iguanas living on the volcano’s slopes. The large rose-colored lizards live only on the volcano.
The Galapagos Government Council says the emergency committee will continue monitoring the volcano to see in which direction the lava flows—and whether it will harm the rare iguanas.
(An aerial view of the lava eruption of Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Wilson Cabrera/National Galapagos Park communications office via AP)
1st comment
That picture is pretty neat. It is good that nobody lived on that side of the volcano. Living near volcanoes must be a little scary because you don't always know when they are going to erupt. I would think that the animals will be okay. God gave them instincts to move away from danger, and animals typically sense danger long before humans do, so hopefully most animals made it safely away from the lava flow.
2nd Comment
That’s kinda cool. The Galápagos Islands have been on the top of my bucket list if destinations since I was pretty young! I wonder if the ash and stuff in the air will affect any of the other islands..
@Riley
It is a cool picture. Its amazing that only 8 people had to leave. Hopefully thats all that will have to leave.
I'm glad that there were no
I'm glad that there were no people living where the volcano erupted. Hopefully no one will get hurt. I looked up the pink Iguanas and they look interesting.
@Stefan
Do you like photography? I love photography! That is why I am always paying attention to neat pictures! XD
Whoa cool!
That's neat. Today we read about the eruption of Vesuvius. (we read it in Latin, it's not like I'm just now reading about it in the 11th grade! XD)
cool!
I bet that was neat to see ,I hope the rare iguanas are ok.
8th Comment
Volcanoes are so fascinating. I wonder what God's reason was to create them. Pink iguanas sound cool! I'm glad no one got hurt.