Active volcanoes at the moment. Which of the listed islands are of volcanic origin

On October 23, 1766, one of the famous volcanoes  World - Philippine crater Mayon, located on the island of Luzon. He “presented” the inhabitants with several terrible days and took the lives of more than 2,000 people. We decided to recall the 12 most impressive volcanoes in the world.

Mayon himself stands majestically 2462 meters above the island and is considered one of the most active volcanoes. Over the past 400 years, it has erupted about 60 times. Its recent eruption occurred on May 7, 2013. And again, there were no victims. Killed 4 German climbers and their guide.

Mayon Volcano Eruption

But, despite the harsh nature of the volcano Mayon, tourists gladly come to admire this wonder of nature. After all, the formidable "resident" of the island of Luzon is considered one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world. It has an almost regular conical shape and is located in the area national park, near the town of Legaspi.

The beauty of the surroundings of Mayon

Even the locals do not cease to admire their famous natural heritage (Mayon in the local dialect means “the most beautiful”), what can we say about tourists. The handsome volcano is captured on stamps, souvenirs, postcards and banknotes. He is devoted to songs and poems.

Another no less famous volcano that delivers a lot of trouble from ancient times, the famous landmark of sunny Italy is unpredictable. Vesuvius. Only his involvement in the destruction of the world famous Pompeii forever inscribed this volcano in the history of the Earth.

But this "old man" is not going to retire, and never ceases to amaze scientists with bursts of their activity.

Volcano vesuvius

The most recognizable volcano in the world is located not far from one of the most beautiful cities in Italy - Naples. It is therefore not surprising that every year crowds of tourists "stormed" Vesuvius to enjoy the beauty of the volcano and the view from its summit. In addition, the guides offer them to perform an action that has already become a ritual, to take with them chicken or quail eggs to bake them on Vesuvius. Its surface temperature is so high.

Crater of Vesuvius

Italy also owns another equally famous and impressive volcano in the world - Etna. It is located on the island of Sicily, and is considered the largest active volcano in Europe.

The “mountain of fire” was exalted in the works of Aristotle, Virgil settled the cyclops on its top, and the beautiful Athena hid Enkelada beneath her, saving the gods from the giants with the consequences of the battle. Myths and reality came together at the famous volcano.

Eruption of Etna

Thousands of tourists converge here, to admire the beautiful Etna, unique landscapes, the magnificence of various orchards, large quantities  located on fertile volcanic soils and taste the famous wines of this region.

Volcano etna

At the neighbor of Italy - Spain there is also a couple of interesting volcanoes in the “stock”.

Volcano Teide, located on the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands), although it is not active, but no less known than its "girlfriend" Etna.

"Space" landscapes Teide

In the vicinity of this volcano there are unique landscapes that resemble the surface of Mars and the Moon: destroyed ancient craters, lava flows frozen in bizarre bends, weathered rocks, which took unusual forms with which all tourists must take pictures.

It was not by chance that such famous films as “Star Wars” and “One Million Years BC” were shot here.

Unusual rocks

But Timanfaya  - a park with many volcanoes, some of which are active. It is also located on one of the Canary Islands - Lanzarote, popularly called the “Fire Island”.

Unearthly landscapes Timanfayi

This magnificent park of volcanoes is famous for its unusual scenery and amazing restaurant, located at the very top and preparing food for tourists in the heat of the volcano.

Food over heat from a volcano

In the Asian part of the largest continent of our planet there are also several volcanoes that are very popular among tourists.

Famous volcano Kamchatka Peninsula – Klyuchevskaya Sopka , considered the highest in Eurasia!

Klyuchevskaya volcano

This is an active volcano. The last active actions of this handsome man, which began on August 16, 2013, ended only on October 21. During this period, ash was recorded up by 10 km.

No less interesting is the matrioshka volcano Krenitsyn. It is located on the Kuril Islands (Onekotan Island) and is considered the largest volcano in the world by its area.

It is surprising that the mountain Krenitsina is located in the lake Ring, with a diameter of 7 km. And the lake, in turn, is located in the crater of another ancient volcano.

Krenitsyn Volcano (top view)

Admire this volcanic "matryoshka" can only be from a helicopter. But those few lucky people who succeeded in doing so remember forever the incredible beauty of the landscape: in the midst of the ultramarine watercolor of the lake surface a steep cone of a volcano rises, on the border with the lake a jumble of sharp stones, turning into the steep slopes of an ancient crater, the gray and steel color of the rocks is set off by the delicate green of the grass and bright colors. And all this splendor is shrouded in an ashy translucent haze, which, as if by magic, disappears, so that the hidden colors of the landscape flare up with a new force.

Landscapes of the Matrioshka Volcano

Not inferior to celebrity and the most poetic volcano - mountain Fujiyama  in Japan.

This creation of nature is honored not only in the land of the rising sun, but also far beyond its borders. Every year thousands of tourists and pilgrims flock to its foot to perpetuate the most romantic and charming volcano in drawings, poems, photographs.

Mount Volcano Fujiyama

The volcano of Mexico is also impressive - famous Popocatepetl. Locals affectionately call it "Smoking Hill", although the height of this "knoll" is more than 5,000 meters.

This mountain is considered to be one of the symbols of the country; a beautiful legend is associated with its appearance. The daughter of the Aztec leader fell in love with a simple warrior. The father was against this love and sent the young man to the war, and his daughter said that her lover was dead. The young beauty could not bear the grief and committed suicide. When the young warrior came back and found out what had happened, he followed his lover. The gods marveled at the power of the love of two hearts and turned them into rocks next to each other, so that they would remain together forever. And indeed, beside the youthful Popocatepetl stands the snow-white Istaxiuatl mountain.

Volcano Popocatepetl

But especially many volcanoes that are worth a look, are located in the Pacific region and belong to the so-called "ring of fire."

Volcano Yasur  is located on the island of Tanna and is known as one of the most ancient (translated from the local dialect - “old man”) and the most accessible active volcanoes.

Anyone can climb its low peak.

At the crater of the volcano Yasur

The opening view of the “working” crater is unforgettable. Tourists get a huge amount of impressions from the underground hum and “sobs”, from the trembling of the earth, from being in close proximity to emissions of ash and magma. And Yasur throws the lava in the form of amazing fireworks.

But, despite the fact that the volcano is fairly accessible, there are days when Yasur is “outraged” for real, then visits stop and the passage to the volcano closes.

Another one of the most famous volcanoes  Oceania - Mauna kea, is located on the island of Hawaii.

Volcano mauna kea

Mauna Kea is interesting not only for its volcanic actions. At its summit, one of the main astrophysical observatories of the world was located. Therefore, to get to the top of the volcano can be on the paved road completely calm.

Volcano observatory

It would be wrong not to mention the famous Indonesian volcano Krakatau, more than once by their eruption significantly influenced the ecology and climate of the Earth.

The first "gift" from this "influential" object everything living on the planet received in 535, when most powerful eruption, according to scientists, has led to global climate change.

The second - in 1883. Then the shock wave from the action of this volcano several times circled our planet. The tsunami caused by her wiped out about 300 cities and settlements of Java and Sumatra, and killed nearly 40,000 people. Ash from the eruption of Krakatau closed the sky, turning the sunrises and sunsets into a riot of purple colors.

Krakatau volcano in action

The volcano continues its turbulent activity today.

And, finally, the most impressive pictures of the action of the volcano.

In 1995, the small Caribbean island of Montserrat was forced to abandon a calm and measured life. A volcano complex has woken up on its territory. Soufriere Hills  and its activities destroyed the capital of the island and another 20 settlements.

Lava flows on the island of Montserrat during the eruption of the volcano Soufriere (top view)

Now from a paradise for recreation, Montserrat has turned into a ghost island, the southern part of which is almost completely covered with ashes.

Ash settlements

The volcano continues its activity. Nobody is allowed into the territory dangerous for living. Experts say that this part of the island will not be suitable for life for at least 10 years.

Center of the capital Montserrat - Plymouth, buried under a layer of ash and turned into a ghost town

But the beauty of Montserrat is amazing, as it affects the activity of a local volcano.

Vulcan Soufriere continues its "work"

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Some geologists view the area between Iceland and Spitsbergen as a lowering area. earth crust  along grand fault lines; this area includes volcanic island. Jan Mayen, as well as Iceland with its volcanoes, of which the most famous is Hekla (elevation 1,447 m), which erupted for the last time from March 1947 to April 1948. All Icelandic volcanoes are located along tectonic crevices that cut the island itself.

On the Atlantic submarine ridge and associated uplifts are active and extinct volcanoes: Azores group, Fr. St. Paul (near the equator), Fr. Ascension, oh. St. Helena Island; Tristan da Cunha, oh. Diego Alvarez (or Gough), oh. Bouvet

A lot of volcanoes and east of the Atlantic Ridge. Volcanic islands include Fr. Madeira. The Canary Islands are considered part of the Atlas mountain range; there are only 13 volcanic islands, and only three of them expose the base of crystalline schists. The highest - on about. Tenerife; its peak Teide (3718 m) is a young volcanic cone that spewed for the last time in 1909. Cape Verde Islands, like the Canary Islands, are also mainland, but there are a lot of extinct volcanoes here, and only about. Fogo volcano is active.

In the western part of the Atlantic Ocean, volcanoes are confined to fault zones covering the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, namely, to the Lesser Antilles (Mont Pele volcano on Martinique, etc.).

Between Sicily and the African coast is known volcanic island. Pantelleria, and in the Aegean Sea about. Santorini (Cyclades group).

Recently extinct volcanoes exist in Auvergne, Eifel (Germany) and in the Czech Republic. There are many volcanoes in the Armenian Highlands (Ararat, Aragats, etc.), as well as in the Main Range of the Caucasus (Elbrus, Kazbek, Tsiteli, Kavardzhin, Khorisar, etc.). On the mainland of Asia, there are a number of extinct volcanoes in Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula. In Iran largest volcano  is demavend. There are two extinct volcanoes in the Eastern Sayan, in the upper reaches of the r. Jean-Balyk (the Oka River basin), three volcanoes on the Vitim Plateau (near the valleys of the Ingur and Kokyrtuya rivers), one volcano in the upper reaches of the Moma (Indigirka tributary) and six volcanoes along the Ussuri and the lower reaches of the Amur. In 1951, an active volcano and Kunlun was discovered, in the area of ​​the source of the r. Keria.

The region of the most active volcanism in Asia is associated with a fault zone covering the seas of the Australian-Asian archipelago, as well as East Asian island garlands, bordered by the deepest depressions of the Pacific Ocean. Here is the western branch of the famous "Pacific Ring of Fire". It begins in the north of Kamchatka, where there are about 130 volcanoes, of which 22 are active. Among the latter the most remarkable are: Shiveluch, Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4850 m, last eruption in 1946), Kronotskaya Sopka and Avachinskaya Sopka  (last eruption in 1945). Further south stretches the ridge of the Kuril Islands (34 active volcano), then the Japanese Islands (out of 200 volcanoes of which the fourth part operates), with the highest point in the volcanic cone of Fujiyama, Ryukyu Islands. Volcanoes exist in Taiwan, the Philippine Islands, on islands in the Celebes Sea, on the Moluccas, on the Lesser Sunda Islands. The island of Java is littered with volcanoes (30 of them operate), as well as Sumatra, where about 70 volcanoes (10 are active). Between Java and Sumatra is about. Krakatau, known terrible eruption in 1883

The western branch of the "ring of fire" extends further south; There are volcanoes in New Guinea, on the islands of Solomon, New Hebrides, Samoa, Tonga, Kermadec, New Zealand. This branch also goes to the Antarctic, where the volcanoes Erebus and Terror rise in the Ross Sea.

In the central part of the Pacific Ocean, the most famous group of volcanic islands of Hawaii, and near South America - the Galapagos Islands and Juan Fernandez.

Volcanoes located in America belong to the eastern branch of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This branch begins the Aleutian Islands, where there are about 50 volcanoes. This branch also includes the volcanoes of the Alaska Peninsula, the Cascade Range (Mount Rainier, Shasta, etc.), Mexico (Orizaba, Popokatepetl), Central America and the Andes (Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, etc.).

Among the most remarkable eruptions is the eruption of the Katmay volcano (Alaska Peninsula, 58 ° N, on the coast of the Shelekhov Strait), which was at rest for a long time, but on 6 June 1912 it suddenly exploded, throwing out about 20 cubic meters. km of loose material; 25 hours continued "rain" of volcanic ash, and the area was covered with a layer of ash with a thickness of 0.25 to 3 m. Another remarkable eruption was in South America (April 1932). Here, on the west coast, in an area of ​​800 km (from Sant Jago to Concepción), 25 volcanoes almost immediately began to operate; the ash thrown by them, the wind carried to the Atlantic Ocean.

Volcanoes in Africa are also confined to zones of fractures of the earth's crust. On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, the Cameroon massif is known; it is composed of ancient crystal rocks; tectonic fissures that cut through it gave rise to a whole group of volcanoes, of which Cameroon spewed as early as 1922. In East Africa, in the so-called “Big Rift”, including the largest East African grabens, the most extinct volcanoes of Abyssinia, especially in the Danakil desert (Afar), Teleki volcano (at the southern tip of Lake Rudolph), Virunga (Kirunga) volcano group (to the west of Lake Victoria), Kenya and Kilimanjaro.

In the Indian Ocean there are volcanoes in Madagascar, the Comoros and Mascarene Islands. The islands of St. Paul, Amsterdam, Crozet, Kerguelen - volcanic.

Summarizing the review of the geographical distribution of volcanoes, it is necessary to state that volcanoes are usually located along straight lines or narrow stripes. This one already indicates the connection of volcanoes with cracks. Analysis of the tectonics of areas of volcanism makes this connection indisputable. Cracks are often deep, as a result of which eruptions on the surface appear only in some places, - where resistance is minimal (for example, at the intersection of cracks). The confinement of volcanoes to islands or seashores is explained by the fact that the lithosphere at the border of seas and continents has the greatest mobility, i.e., the greatest tendency to cracking. More rarely volcanoes in the depths of the continents but here they are located only along large faults (eastern Africa).

Thus, there is no doubt that the manifestation of volcanism on Earth is in the closest dependence on dislocations with a discontinuity. In other words, volcanism, earthquakes and mountain building are only different mutually connected and mutually determined aspects of a single process of movements of the earth's crust.

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