AN IMMENSE BOILING POT: VOLCÁN RINCÓN de la VIEJA (CR)

Rincón de la Vieja Active Crater. The walls expose thick sequences of oxidized and hydrothermally altered pyroclastic deposits and light-colored lava flows. (© Bernhard Edmaier, via “Bilder von der Erde” [Images of the Earth])

Rincón de la Vieja is one of those volcanoes that don’t make headlines with fiery lava streams and end-of-world scenarios. Presently, the biggest news from it are about yet another phreatic explosion, and the most exciting photos show a pale steam plume fading away, at best with a bit of ash mixed in. Moreover, the videos of ensuing lahars we have recently seen show

The Ontong Java Plateau – Large Igneous Province

Google screen capture of Solomon Islands. Ontong Java atoll is the darker blue boot shaped island just right of the upper center of the capture. The Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) is the lighter blue shaded portion of the capture north of the Solomon Island arc.

VOLCÁN CHAITÉN (CL) and a Town in Distress

The Chaitén volcano in eruption, October 2008 (© Gerard Prins, via Wikimedia)