The La Cumbre volcano erupted on the uninhabited Galapagos Island of Fernandina last weekend. The population on other islands has not yet been affected. Tourists were advised to stay away, Ecuadorian authorities said.
“A thermal anomaly and gas emissions were recorded” that “indicate the beginning of an eruptive process,” according to Ecuador’s National Institute of Geophysics. The 1,463 meter high La Cumbre has erupted several times in recent years, most recently in 2020.
It is not possible to “predict exactly how long the eruption will last,” the Ecuadorian Geophysical Institute said. However, data collected after the last eruption shows that “the current eruption will be larger than those in 2017, 2018 and 2020.”
Lava turns the night sky red
Lava has erupted from a fissure on the volcano’s southeastern flank, turning the night sky above the island red (see video above). With 28 to 30 eruptions since 1800, La Cumbre has “the highest eruption frequency in the Galapagos Islands,” according to the National Institute of Geophysics website.
The 642 square kilometer island of Fernandina is located in the far west of the Galapagos archipelago. It is the geologically youngest island of the archipelago on the equator and is home to, among other things, an endemic species of the yellow land iguana.
Galapagos is on the UNESCO World Heritage List
The Galapagos Islands, which belong to Ecuador, are located in the Pacific Ocean and have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978. Located about a thousand kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, the archipelago is home to a unique diversity of flora and fauna and the largest number of endemic species; species that only occur in a specific location.
Source: Krone
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