Popocatepetl – Mexico City’s Active Volcano

Popocatepetl in eruption, July 2013. Photo courtesy Science Times. http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5617/20130712/popocatepetl-volcano-erupts-mexico-city-ash.htm

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