The Earth Story

Somehow I just want a video of birds hanging out on the path to the new overlook view at Kilauea Caldera.

A hike along the edge of the large pit at Kilauea Caldera - formed during the 2018 eruption event.

Haleakala Crater Massive and majestic, the world’s largest dormant volcano towers above the Hawaiian Island of Maui. So immense is the Haleakala Crater on the Hawaiian island of Maui that the American writer Mark Twain wrote: “If it had a level bottom it would make a fine site for a city like London.” The crater of Vesuvius, he said, was a ‘modest pit’ by comparison (http://bit.ly/1IT554R).

Nisyros Volcano Nisyros island sits at the far eastern end of the Greek Isles, at the southeastern edge of the Aegean Sea with Turkey being the closest landmass. It has a population of about 1000 people living on it, and a long legacy of volcanic activity.

Hiking and drone-flying in the shadow of Rinjani volcano on Lombok Island, Indonesia - surrounded by lava flows, volcanic cones, and a large lake-filled caldera.

Waw an Namus — A Saharan volcano From these images captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, the dormant volcano Waw an Namus looks like a drop of ink on a dusty piece of parchment. Located in Saharan region of southwestern Libya, the jet-black patch is made up of volcanic ash that was produced during the volcano’s last eruption. Although we don’t know the eruption's exact date, we know that it likely erupted some time during the past few thousand years, since the volcanic ash hasn’t yet been weathered and eroded away by wind or water. At the center of volcano lies a 4-km wide caldera — a depression that forms when a volcano with a shallow magma chamber collapses after a volcanic eruption.

The Peach Springs Tuff in Arizona is a remnant of a gigantic volcanic eruption nearly 20 million years ago. Rocks produced by it tower over the landscape traversed by some major highways, so people drive past them without even realizing it (me included earlier this year!). Let's meet this caldera and the eruption it produced.

The Sour Creek Dome This unassuming hill is found within Yellowstone National Park and is an important part of the story of the volcanic system that lies beneath.

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Cone

This awesome feature is Vent Mountain, found within the much larger Aniakchak Caldera on the Alaskan Peninsula. This is a typical volcano that might grow inside a caldera on top of a subduction zone – the caldera is filled in by lava flows and explosive eruptions during the millennia after the main caldera-forming eruption. Vent Mountain formed during an eruption of this caldera in 1931, the only historic eruption of this site. I can’t get over the near-symmetry of the crater at the top in this aerial photo taken by a USGS scientist in 2014. The erosive scours on the sides make for a really interesting texture too. -JBB Image credit: https://flic.kr/p/s6Ztfa Read more: http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1PHULax

Original caption:

Cone This awesome feature is Vent Mountain, found within the much larger Aniakchak Caldera on the Alaskan Peninsula. This is a typical volcano that might grow inside a caldera on top of a subduction zone – the caldera is filled in by lava flows and explosive eruptions during the millennia after the main caldera-forming eruption. Vent Mountain formed during an eruption of this caldera in 1931, the only historic eruption of this site. In this aerial photo taken by a USGS scientist in 2014 you can see the crater at the top of the cone and small bits of what is likely a low lava dome at the bottom (the slightly crinkled up rocks at the bottom of the crater). The erosive scours on the sides make for a really interesting texture too. -JBB Image credit: https://flic.kr/p/s6Ztfa Read more: http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1PHULax

Double Rainbow Caldera This shot of double full rainbows was taken by Jasman Singh Mander after a July storm and shared through the US Department of Interior’s feeds. The shot covers much of the area of Crater Lake including Wizard Island, vertical wisps of clouds, and the hint of sunlight peeking through. -JBB Image credit: Jasman Singh Mander https://instagram.com/jasmanmander/ US Dept. of Interior: https://instagram.com/usinterior/ https://twitter.com/Interior/status/606117454230609920

Flying over Santorini Caldera

Since the collapse of the caldera floor in 2018, groundwater has begun seeping into the bottom of the enlarged Halemaumau crater. Here that landscape is explored, along with the now altering lava fields, by Paradise Helicopters.