Towering 1,200ft above the tropical stillness of the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, one of the most terrifying volcanoes the world has ever known has begun to stir once more. Almost 126 years to the day since Krakatoa first showed signs of an imminent eruption, stunning pictures released this week prove that the remnant of this once-enormous volcano is bubbling, boiling and brimming over. For more information, see THIS LINK. (Image credit: Mark Fuller)

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Plume on Venus?!?

ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has confirmed earlier sightings of a bright plume in Venus' dense atmosphere that some have suggested is volcanic in origin. The bright spot was recorded by the spacecraft on July 19th and was about 30 per cent brighter than other bright clouds seen at that latitude. Images have confirmed that it was a stand-alone feature and not an extension of the bright polar hood. Venus is nearly covered in volcanoes and basaltic lava flows, but no active eruptions have ever been witnessed.

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The Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes remains one of the largest but least known areas of active volcanism in the world!

We've just finished creating a whole sub-website devoted to them here!!

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VOLCANO OF THE MONTH



Socompa

The catastrophic eruption of Mt. St Helens on May 18, 1980, focused attention on a previously little known type of volcanic eruption, in which collapse of a large segment of the volcano triggers a violent explosive blast. Many other examples of similar eruptions have now been recognized in the field and in geological literature. Examination of satellite images of the Andes has revealed many major examples.

Illustrated is the 6050-meter-high (19,844 feet) Socompa volcano on the frontier between Chile and Argentina. At some time between about 10,000 and 500 years ago, the volcano experienced a massive collapse of a 70° sector of the original cone that triggered a debris avalanche that traveled up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the volcano, covering an area of 500 square kilometers (190 square miles). (Shuttle Image (STS-41D, August-September 1984. Picture #14-39-034) and description from The Lunar and Planetary InstituteGeology from Space Slide Presentation compiled by Francis and Jones)