Vulcanismo

The Nabro volcano in northeast Africa

Until last weekend, the Nabro volcano in northeast Africa looked like it does in the image
above. Then, on the night of June 12, 2011, the stratovolcano erupted for the first time in
recorded history. It spewed ash and large amounts of sulfur dioxide gasthe highest levels
ever detected from space, according to preliminary estimates from researchers at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center.
Astronauts on the International Space Station snapped this digital photograph of Nabro in
January 2011, when all was still quiet. The horseshoe-shaped caldera stretches 8 kilometers (5
miles) in diameter and opens to the southwest. Two smaller calderas lie within the larger one.
Gullies and channels scar the outer flanks, signs of many years of runoff. The inner edge of
the caldera has steep cliffs, some as high as 400 meters.
Located in Eritrea near the border with Ethiopia, Nabro is part of larger double-caldera
structure with the Mallahle volcano to the southwest. Both volcanoes were built, like
Kilimanjaro, fromtrachyte lavas,and later filled by eruptions ofignimbrite.Research suggests
that both calderas may have formed around the same time. The volcanic range has been
virtually undocumented, according to researchers.
As of June 18, the volcano was still erupting, though less effusively than a week ago. The ash
cloud has periodically disrupted air traffic in North Africa and parts of the eastern
Mediterranean. Ash plumes were reported as far as the Central African Republic, Israel, and
Turkmenistan.

EritreasNabroVolcano
seems to be evolving
toward a milder, more
effusiveeruption. By
June 19, 2011

after nearly a week of explosive activity, EritreasNabroVolcano seems to

be evolving toward a milder, moreeffusiveeruption. By June 19, 2011, the
altitude of Nabros ash plume dropped from a maximum of 45,000 feet
(14,000 meters) to 25,000 feet (7,600 meters), according to the Joint Air
Force & Army Weather Information Network. The shrinking plume
revealed a 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) lava flow, visible in this thermal
infrared, false-color image.
TheAdvanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
(ASTER) aboard theTerrasatellite observed Nabro on the evening of
June 19. Hot areas are bright, and cold areas are dark. Thermal infrared
data were combined with a shaded relief image to show the terrain. The
white feature exending to the northwest is an active lava flow. A highaltitude plume, likely rich in water vapor, is nearly black, and obscures the
erupting vents. A diffuse, ash-rich plume to the southwest of Nabro
appears purple.
Because the volcano is located in a remote, hard-to-access region, satellite
images provide valuable insight into the nature of the eruption. The lava
flow fans out in the flat plain, providing a clue that it is probably basalt
lava, which is thinner (less viscous) than other types, says volcanologist
Eric Klemetti in hisanalysis of the image.Basalt lava can travel long
distances before cooling, thus covering a wide area.
Prior toJune 12, 2011,Nabro had not erupted in recorded history. It is
unknown when the volcano last erupted. The volcano is one of many along
AfricasGreat Rift Valley,which is slowly spreading apart.
References

The Aurora-Bodie volcanic field Nevada

The Aurora-Bodie volcanic field Nevada includes a series of small lava flows
andscoria(cinder) cones that range in age from about 100,000 years (late
Pleistocene) to more than 15 million years old. It is part of the
Basin and Rangeprovince, an area of extensive crustal stretching across the
western United States.
The volcanoes of the Aurora-Bodie field erupted lavas ranging from
relatively fluidbasaltto more viscousa ndesite.These eruptions produced
distinctive thick and bulbous lava flows such as those of the Mud Springs
Volcano, the youngest in the field. The lava from Mud Springs extends 7
kilometers from the small vent near the southeastern end of the volcano.
This natural-color satellite image was acquired byDigital Globes
Worldview-2satellite on July 5, 2008. The dry Nevada climate has largely
preserved the dark lava surface of Mud Springs, even though it is about
110,000 years old. Individual trees are visible on flat areas, as well as on the
surrounding, older volcanoes. The basin floor surrounding the volcano is
largely barren.
Most of the eruptions from Aurora-Bodie have been small, with an average
eruptive rate of 200 cubic meters per square kilometer (20,000 cubic feet
per square mile) per year since about 3.6 million years ago. This low rate of
activity is evidence that the Aurora-Bodie volcanoes are fed by remelted
basalt from the lower crust, rather than a stable magma chamber in the
upper crust.

Pyroclastic flowsare some of

the most fearsome hazards
posed by erupting volcanoes.
These avalanches of
superheated ash, gas, and rock
are responsible for some of the
most famous volcanic disasters
in history. More recently,
pyroclastic flows from
Mount Merapiin Indonesia
caused most of the casualties
during the volcanos 2010
eruption.
The intense heatover 1,000 C
the terrific speedup to 720
kilometers per hourand the
mixture of toxic gases all
contribute to the deadly
potential. Pyroclastic flows can
incinerate, burn, or asphyxiate
people who cannot get out of
the flow path.
This false-color satellite image
from the
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal E
mission and Reflection Radiom
eter
(ASTER) on theTerrasatellite
shows the remnants of a large
pyroclastic flow on the slopes
ofShiveluchVolcano.
Fortunately, no one was hurt
during the eruption and flow in
the sparsely-populated area.
ASTER
detected heat from the flow

The San Francisco Volcanic Field in northern Arizona. Covering 4,700 square kilometers, the volcanic field
consists of volcanoes and lava flows, including SP Crater. The Advanced Land Imager(ALI)on NASAs Earth
Observing-1(EO-1)satellite captured this natural-color image on April 17, 2010.
SP Crater is acinder cone,a conical structure made up of volcanic fragments, often glassy rocks containing
bubbles of trapped gas. Cinder cones often form around or downwind from volcanic vents. When lava erupts from
these structures, it frequently flows out of breaches on the side, and that appears to be the case at SP Crater.
Like most volcanoes in this field, SP Crater is abasaltcinder cone. Basalt has low resistance to flow, so basalt lava
flows tend to travel fairly far from the eruption source.
Forming a paisley pattern, the dark volcanic rocks north of SP Crater result from lava flows. (This image has been
rotated and north is at right.) The hardened lava extends some 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the cinder cone, and is
about 100 feet (30 meters) thick. Different dating techniques have placed the age of this lava between 4,000 and
71,000 years old.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than 600 volcanoes occur in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, and
they have erupted at various times over the past 6 million years. Although ancient by human standards, these
volcanoes are in fact geologically young.

Free of vegetation, the gray and white lava-covered peak of the Ubinas Volcano
looks like it could be located on the Moon or some other extraterrestrial body. The
Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASAs EO-1 satellite captured this true-color
image of the Peruvian volcano on July 24, 2010.
The barren summit hints at recent volcanic activity, and in fact, Ubinas is Perus
most active volcano. Apart from venting ash frequently, Ubinas has erupted many
times since 1550. Thelast eruptionstarted on March 25, 2006. As a result of its
frequent activity, the steeply sloped peak is coated with lava. A canyon on the
southern slope is evidence of a collapse in the volcanos past.
A small circular caldera crowns the volcano. A little more than a kilometer across,
the caldera is defined by walls that range from 80 to 300 meters high. Darkcolored ash and tiny volcanic rocks (lapilli) carpet the crater floor. An ash cone
rises from the center of the crater, casting a dark triangular shadow. Within the
shadow of the ash cone lies a white, funnel-shaped inner crater that is 200 meters
deep.
Ubinas is one of many volcanoes that dot the high desert plateau east of Lake
Titicaca in southern Peru. In the Central Volcanic Zone in the Andes, mountains and
volcanoes grow as the Nazca plate, part of Earths crust under the southeast
Pacific Ocean,sinks beneaththe South American plate. The pressure of the
collision wrinkles the South American plate, pushing the Andes Mountains up. As
the material in the Nazca plate melts deep in the Earth, some rises to the surface
through weak areas in the South American plate. Along with South Americas other
volcanoes, Ubinas is part of thePacific Ring of Fire,a chain of volcanoes around
the Pacific Ocean that formed because of tectonic activity.

In far eastern Russia, north of theKamchatka Peninsula,lies Anyuyskiy Volcano. Now dormant, the volcano was once active
enough to send a massivelaharan avalanche of volcanic ash and rock mixed with water50 kilometers (30 miles) down
the west side of the volcano summit. The dried, hardened remains of the lahar persist today, a streak of barren rock on a
landscape that is otherwise richly vegetated.
On September 13, 2003, theAdvanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)on NASAs
Terra satellite captured this view of Anyuyskiy. ASTER can map elevation while collecting imagery, so in this false-color
image, the image data has been draped over elevation data to make this 3-D visualization. Vegetation appears bright green;
bare rocks and ice appear bright red; water appears navy blue. Even in summer, traces of snow cover cling to the highest
peaks. The old lahar from Anyuyskiy extends from the north slope, turning westward immediately north of Anyuyskiy and
flowing toward the west-southwest. Lakes occur along the margins of the lahar, and some small lakes appear on the lahars

Far out in the central Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from any large landmass, hot
molten rock from deep in the Earths core bubbles up and periodically recreates the
largest volcano in the world: Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii. Most of the
surface of the volcano is covered by lava flows that have been laid down in the last
10,000 years, although geologists believe the volcano is probably between 600,000 and
1 million years old.
In this Landsat image from February 5, 2000, the rivers of hardened lava make dark
brown etchings across the massive volcanos flanks. The peak reaches up 9 kilometers
from the ocean floor, extending to an altitude of 4,170 meters. On the northeast and
southwest sides of the Mokuaweoweo caldera at the summit are two rift zones, from
which fountains of lava periodically erupt. The trails of lava from the last eruption of
Mauna Loa, in 1984, snake down from the northeast rift zone into the green vegetation
of the lower slopes. At bottom right of the image is Kilauea Volcano, whose spectacular
lava flows spill, sizzling, into the ocean. Both volcanos are part of Hawaiis Volcanos
National Park.
Some researchers have proposed that throughout its history, Mauna Loa has operated
on a 2,000-year cycle in which eruptive activity shifts from the rift zones to the
caldera and back to the rift zones. If this proves to be true, then the volcano should
be about to shift away from its recent history of rift zone lava flows and back to
eruptions from the lava-lake in the volcanos caldera. Current reports from the
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say that according to Global Positioning System
measurements, the distance between two monitoring stations on the north and south
side of the caldera is increasing, an indication that the magma reservoir within the
volcano is growing.

Far out in the central Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from any large landmass, hot molten
rock from deep in the Earths core bubbles up and periodically recreates the largest volcano in
the world: Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Pacific coastline of much of Central
America is marked by a line of active and quiescent volcanoes known to geologists as the Central
American Volcanic Arc. The volcanoes result from the upward movement of magma generated
along thesubduction zonebetween the Cocos and Caribbean tectonic plates. Frequent
earthquakes also occur along the plate boundary. This astronaut photograph includes four
stratovolcanoesa type of volcano common in active subduction zonesin El Salvador, near the
midpoint of the Central American Volcanic Arc.
While all of the volcanoes shown here have been active during the Holocene Epoch (from about
10,000 years ago to the present), only the 2,130-meter- (6,990-foot-) high San Miguel (also
known as Chaparrastique) has been active during historical times. The most recent activity of
San Miguel was a minor gas and ash emission in 2002. The stratovolcanos steep cone shape and
well-developed summit crater are evident, along with dark lava flows. Immediately to the
northwest, the truncated summit of Chinameca Volcano (also known as El Pacayal) is marked by a
two-kilometer- (one-mile-) wide caldera. The caldera formed when a powerful eruption emptied
the volcanos magma chamber, causing the chambers roof to collapse. Like its neighbor San
Miguel, Chinamecas slopes host coffee plantations.
Moving to the west, the eroded cone of El Tigre Volcano is visible. El Tigre formed during the
Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago), and it is likely the oldest of the
stratovolcanoes in the image. Usulutn Volcano is directly southwest of El Tigre. While the
flanks of Usulutn have been dissected by streams, the mountain still retains a summit crater
that is breached on the eastern side. Several urban areasrecognizable as light gray to white
regions contrasting with green vegetation and tan fallow agricultural fieldsare located in the
vicinity of these volcanoes, including the town of Usulutn (lower left) and Santiago de Mara
(upper left).
Astronaut photographISS023-E-22411was acquired on March 31, 2010, with a Nikon D3X
digital camera fitted with an effective 340 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth
Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Search/index.php?cx=002358070019171462865%3Arvzidec6wz4&cof=FORID%3A11&q=+chAIT%C3%89N
+DOME+

Reduced volcanic emissions

and clear skies over
southern Chile reveal
Chaitn volcanos new
lava dome.The dome almost
completely fills the caldera
left behind after Chaitns
last eruption, which ended
about 9,400 years ago. The
bare rocky surface of the
dome is brown, while gray
ash andtephracover the
landscape to the east
(right).
Nearby slopes are covered
in dead and dying
vegetation, stressed by
nearly two years of volcanic
blasts and gases and ash
blown by the prevailing
winds. To the west (left) of
the volcano, healthy forests
remain. The Advanced Land
Imager (ALI) aboard the
Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)
satellite acquired this
natural-color image of
Chaitn at roughly 10:30
a.m. local time on March 3,
2010.

The summit of South Americas Llullaillaco Volcano has an elevation

of 6,739 meters (22,110 feet) above sea level, making it the highest
historically active volcano in the world. The currentstratovolcanoa
cone-shaped volcano built from successive layers of thick lava flows
and eruption products like ash and rock fragmentsis built on top of
an older stratovolcano. The last explosive eruption of the volcano,
based on historical records, occurred in 1877.
This detailed astronaut photograph of Llullaillaco illustrates an
interesting volcanic feature known as acoule(image top right).
Coules are formed from highly viscous, thick lavas that flow onto a
steep surface. As they flow slowly downwards, the top of the flow
cools and forms a series of parallel ridges oriented at 90 degrees to
the direction of flow (somewhat similar in appearance to the pleats
of an accordion). The sides of the flow can also cool faster than the
center, leading to the formation of wall-like structures known asflow
levees(image center). Llullaillaco is also a well-known archaeological
site; the mummified remains of three Inca children, ritually
sacrificed 500 years ago, were discovered on the summit in 1999.

The landscape in the central Andes Mountains, near the border between Chile and Argentina, is dominated by
volcanoes and associated landforms. Layers of older sedimentary rocks are visible to the upper middle, and many
volcanic cones show grooves where water has eroded the rock to form gullies. Such erosion has occurred since
the host volcano was built up, indicating that most volcanoes in this view have been inactive for centuries or
millennia.
A few volcanoes exhibit much less erosion, and even show tongues of dark, recent lava flows (upper left). Two of
these volcanoes, Cerro el Cndor and Peinado, have likely erupted within the past 12,000 years.
Also visible is the worlds highest active volcano, Nevado Ojos del Salado, with a summit 6,887 meters (22,600
feet) above sea level. The most recent confirmed eruption has been dated to the year 700 (+/- 300 years), but
minor eruptive activity may have occurred as recently as 1993.
Stratovolcanoes such as Cerro el Cndor, Peinado, and Nevado Ojos del Salado are formed partly by the buildup
of lava flows and partly by the buildup of explosively vented material dropping back down onto the surface. One
material associated with these eruptions is welded tuff, formed by molten and fragmented rock that accumulates
on the ground and later solidifies. A large tuff sheet is visible at the top left. Formed very rapidly, these sheets
have been termed instant landscapes. The Andean volcanic system has been so active that the origin of many
tuffs cannot be pinpointed because the source vents have been overprinted by subsequent volcanic events.
The landscape also shows that the erosive work of rivers and glaciers in the region is slower than the upward
building processes of the volcanoes. The bright blue lake -- nearly 7 km (4.3 miles) long -- near the center of the
image is Laguna Verde. This and other less obvious lakes indicate that water from snowmelt or direct
precipitation is unable to reach the sea, being impounded in the depressions between the volcanic edifices.

The Tibesti Mountain Range in northern Chad is one of the worlds least-studied
volcanic regions. A look at the area from space, however, must intrigue
vulcanologists. One of the Tibesti Mountains features is Tarso Toussid. This
image is a composite of images acquired by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus
sensor on NASAs Landsat satellite on January 22, 2001, and February 1, 2000.
Looking like the result of a giant inkwell tipped on its side, Tarso Toussid
underwent a violent eruption in the recent geologic past, and the remains of
that eruption have stained the ground black. The volcano
ejectedtephra,fragments of rock and volcanic glass, lava, and ash. Tephra does
not last on the landscape as long as consolidated volcanic rocks such as tuff or
lava, so the presence of tephra suggests fairly recent activity. In the middle of
the field of dark tephra is Pic Toussid, a lava dome poking out of the current
caldera.
Volcanoes often sport multiple calderas, particularly as the primary site for
eruptive activity shifts over time. East of Pic Topussid are two calderas, the
southern one bearing a white splotch roughly 2 kilometers long. This white color
could result from salt. Water pooling in the caldera would not have an outlet,
and as the water evaporated, minerals such as salt would be left behind.

Parque Nacional Laguna de Laja is part of Chiles Lake Districta popular tourist
destination. A hydroelectric dam at the southwest end holds the lake in place,
allowing water to escape via the fast-flowing Rio Laja. The terrain surrounding both
the lake and the river sport impressive waterfalls. To the south, the Cerro Antuco
and Sierra Velluda Volcanoes tower over the water bodies.
On January 27, 2000, the Landsat 7 satellite took this picture of Chiles Lake
District. Immediately south of Laguna de Laja is Cerro Antuco,
astratovolcanocomposed of alternating layers of hardened lava, ash, and volcanic
rock. Farther south isSierra Velluda,another stratovolcano active during the
Pleistocene (the most recent ice age). Although a little snow caps Cerro Antuco, much
more snow adorns the summit of its southern neighbor, even during Chiles summer.
Sharp ridges and deep valleys carve this rugged region, which alternates between
bare rock and lush vegetation. The pale outline of Laguna de Laja suggests that its
water level is not at its highest.
Cerro Antucobears some responsibility for the brown swath sweeping toward the
west along the river. In the early Holocene (the name geologists have given to the
most recent 10,000 years of Earths history), an edifice collapsein which part of
the rim of the caldera or the side of the volcano rapidly collapses during an eruption
of this volcano produced an avalanche of debris that spread west. In historical
times, lava has also flowed along the same path as Rio Laja. Dark, rectangular patches
inside this swath of seemingly barren land are likely cultivated fields.

Basalt cliffs along the northwest edge of the Meseta de Somuncura plateau
near Sierra Colorada, Argentina show an unusual and striking pattern of erosion.
Stereoscopic observation helps to clarify the landform changing processes active
here.
Many of the cliffs appear to be rock staircases that have the same color as
the plateau's basaltic caprock. Are these the edges of lower layers in the basalt, or
are they a train of slivers that are breaking off from, then sliding downslope and
away from, the caprock? They appear to be the latter.
Close inspection shows that each stair step is too laterally irregular to be a
continuous sheet of bedrock like the caprock. Also, the steps are not flat but
instead are little ridges, as one might expect from broken, tilted, and sliding slices
of the caprock. Stream erosion has cut some gullies into the cliffs and green
vegetation shows that water springs from and flows down some channels, but
landsliding is clearly a major agent of erosion here.
Landsat satellites have provided visible light and infrared images of the Earth
continuously since 1972. SRTM topographic data match the 30-meter (99-foot)
spatial resolution of most Landsat images and provide a valuable complement for
studying the historic and growing Landsat data archive. The Landsat 7 Thematic
Mapper image used here (top image) was provided to the SRTM project by the
United States Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS)
Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

All of the major landforms relate to

volcanism and/or erosion in thisShuttle
Radar Topography Missionscene of
Patagonia, near La Esperanza, Argentina.
The two prominent plateaus once formed a
continuous surface that extended over
much of this region. Younger volcanoes
have grown through and atop the plateau,
and one just south of this scene has sent a
long, narrow flow down a stream channel
(lower left). The topographic pattern
shows that streams dominate the erosion
processes in this arid environment even
though wind is known to move substantial
amounts of sediment here.
Two visualization methods were combined
to produce this image: shading and color
coding of topographic height. The shade
image was derived by computing
topographic slope in the north-south
direction. Northern slopes appear bright
and southern slopes appear dark, as would
be the case at noon at this latitude in the
southern hemisphere. Color-coding is
directly related to topographic height,
with green at the lower elevations, rising
through yellow, red, and magenta, to white
at the highest elevations.
Size: 62.4 by 88.8 kilometers (38.7 by 55.1
miles)Location: 40.0 deg. South lat., 68.6

Plate tectonics, volcanism, landslides, erosion and depositionand their interactionsare all
very evident in this view of the Crater Highlands along the East African Rift in Tanzania. The
image shows landforms using color and shading. Color indicates height, with lowest elevations
in green and highest elevations in white. Shading shows the slope. The vertical relief has been
exaggerated by a factor of 2 to reveal greater detail about the landscape. The image is
oriented as though you were looking from the north toward the southwest.
Lake Eyasi is in blue at the top of the image, and a smaller lake occurs in Ngorongoro Crater.
Near the image center, elevations peak at 3,648 meters at Mount Loolmalasin, which is south
of Ela Naibori Crater. Kitumbeine (left) and Gelai (right) are the two broad mountains rising
from the rift lowlands. Mount Longido is seen in the lower left, and the Meto Hills are in the
right foreground.
The East African Rift is a zone of spreading between the African (on the west) and Somali (on
the east) crustal plates. Two branches of the rift intersect here in Tanzania, resulting in
distinctive and prominent landforms. One branch trends nearly parallel to this southwesterly
view and includes Lake Eyasi and the very wide Ngorongoro Crater. The other branch is well
defined by the lowlands that trend left to right across the image (below center, in green).
Volcanoes are often associated with spreading zones where magma, rising to fill the gaps,
reaches the surface and builds cones. Craters form if a volcano explodes or collapses. Later
spreading can fracture the volcanoes, which is especially evident on Kitumbeine and Gelai
Mountains (left and right, respectively, lower center).
The Crater Highlands rise far above the adjacent savannas, capture moisture from passing air
masses, and host rain forests. Over time, streams erode downward toward the level of the
adjacent rift, deeply dissecting the volcanic slopes. This is especially evident on the eastern
flanks of Mount Loolmalasin (left of center). Landslides also occur here. In particular, the
small but steep volcanic cone nearest the image center has a landslide scar on its eastern
(left) flank, and topographic evidence shows that the associated landslide deposits extend
eastward 10 kilometers (6 miles) across the floor of the rift. Such a long run of landslide
debris is unusual but not unique on Earth.
View Size:48 kilometers wide (30 miles) by 230 kilometers (140 miles) distance

you were to rank all of the volcanoes in the world in terms of activity,
Kilauea would come out near the top. The volcano is so given to
eruptions that it is said to be home to Pele, the temperamental
Hawaiian volcano goddess. The most recent eruption began pouring from
Kilaueas east rift into the Pacific Ocean in 1983 and had not ceased as
of December 8, 2005. Though no more than a lump on the eastern
flanks of the massive Mauna Loa volcano on the Island of Hawaii,
Kilauea has been prodigiously more productive than its neighbor. As
much as ninety percent of Kilaueas surface is less than 1,100 years old.
This Ikonos image, taken on January 14, 2003, shows Kilaueas summit
caldera, the surface of which is covered in fresh lava flows. The newer
flows are dark, while the older flows pale as the iron in the lava
oxidizes into rust. The oldest flow in the caldera is from 1882. The
Halema`uma`u crater forms a pale circle in the southwest section of
the caldera. As recently as 1924, the crater was filled with a molten
lava lake. According to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (visible in the
upper left corner of the image), the name comes from Polynesian
mythology. Halema`uma`u refers to a house of ferns that Kamapua`a,
a suitor of Pele, built over the crater to keep her from escaping. As the
fresh flows in the image testify, the attempt was not successful. The
other crater seen in the image, Keanakako`i, was the site of an eruption
in 1974. In the upper right corner of the image is Volcano House, a
private hotel.
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

The arid climate of Baja California limits the amount of vegetation covering the ground and
allows the dramatic volcanic features of the landscape to stand out in this natural-color image
from the Landsat satellite on October 5, 2000. The landscape is a patchwork of lava flows and
the hardened remains of pyroclastic flowshot clouds of volcanic ash, dust, and rock fragments
that race down the slopes of a volcano like an avalanche.
On the eastern coast of the peninsula, facing the Gulf of California, is the massive La
Reforma Caldera. The outer rim of the caldera is defined by dark-colored rocks made out of
very fluid lava. A dome of rock in the center of the caldera is aresurgent dome.A resurgent
dome is formed as the floor of the caldera is heaved upward by the movement of magma below
ground. The lavas surrounding the caldera date to about 1 million years ago.
West of La Reforma is a line of three connected volcanoes. La Vrgen, in the southwest, El
Azufre in the center, and El Viejo in the northeast. The volcanoes get larger and younger from
northeast to southwest. As recently as 6,500 years ago, La Vrgen experienced aplinian eruption
a huge, explosive event that produces an enormous column of volcanic rock fragments and gas
that reaches into the stratosphere. The eruption produced a column that reached at least 18
kilometers into the air and deposited ash and rock fragments over 500 square kilometers. In
later stages of the eruption, pyroclastic flows (pinkish rocks) and lahars (mudflows, grayish
rocks) from El Azufre Volcano paved the plain to the north all the way to the Gulf of California.
North-northeast of Las Tres Vrgenes is El Aguajito Caldera, where pyroclastic rocks and
lava date to between 500,000-800,000 years old. The rim of caldera is not continuously exposed
at the surface, but the rocks have a subtle circular arrangement. Like La Reforma, the northern
rim of El Aguajito follows the coastline. The flat-looking rock formations, carved by arroyos,
arelava domes,hardened mounds of slow-moving, sticky lava. The topography in the southern
part of the caldera is more rugged and irregular. The rocks are a combination of pyroclastic
deposits and a slightly more fluid lava than what erupted near the coast.

Sometimes science is serendipitous, and this image is one such example. Scientists from the United
States Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA have teamed up to survey topographic change at Mount St.
Helens using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology. LIDAR maps topography by bouncing a
laser pulse from an airplane to the ground tens of thousands of times each second. The technique
results in topographical maps that are vertically accurate to within 10 centimeters (4 inches). The USGS
conducted a LIDAR survey of Mount St. Helens in September 2003, under contract with EarthData
International. NASA and the USGS were planning to expand upon that survey in November 2004,
mapping a fault zone that the volcano straddles. The mapping was to be done by TerraPoint USA, Inc.
who has been working with NASA and the USGS to map fault zones in the Pacific Northwest.
St. Helens had plans of its own. In late September 2004, the volcano rumbled back to life with
renewed earthquake activity. A new volcanic dome began to rise out of the crater formed by the 1980
eruption, and on October 1, a cloud of ash and steam erupted. USGS scientist Ralph Haugerud and David
Harding from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center worked with TerraPoint to rapidly mobilize,
accelerating the return to St. Helens. They hoped to measure deformation in the volcanos crater by
comparing LIDAR surveys measured over a years period. On October 4, TerraPoint took to the skies
and resurveyed the mountain. Other remote sensing instruments were also targeting St. Helens that
day, including Space Imagings IKONOS sensor orbiting 681 kilometers above the Earth.
A stunning combination of the October 4th LIDAR and IKONOS data is shown in the above image,
a one-meter-per-pixel IKONOS image draped over the two-meter-per-pixel LIDAR elevation map. In
this image, the new lava dome rises behind the lava dome that formed between 1980 and 1986. The new
dome grew 110 meters (360 feet) between late September and October 4, 2004. To its right, a dark slit
shows where a new vent opened as the volcano erupted.
The dome wasnt the only change the LIDAR data recorded. Unrelated to the eruption, rock
glaciersa mixture of rock and icemoved down the slope as new material fed them. One such glacier
can be seen on the left edge of the image. A comparison of this years topographic map to last years
shows shrinking snow fields, growth in the crater glacier, and several rock slides. (SeeLaser
Technology Helps Track Changes in Mount St. Helensfor more information and comparison images.)
The animations provided above of the IKONOS image draped on the LIDAR data offer a 360degree view of the crater. This fly-in approaches the crater from the north, circles the crater rim,
then zooms into the crater to focus on the new lava dome before zooming back out to a birds eye view
of the entire crater.
IKONOS imagery provided copyright ofSpace ImagingLIDAR derived elevation map courtesy of
USGS and NASA.

These images of the Island of Hawaii were acquired on March 19, 2000 by the
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on
NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal
infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90meters (about 50
to 300 feet), ASTER will image Earth for the next 6 years to map and monitor the
changing surface of our planet. Data are shown from the short wavelength and thermal
infrared spectral regions, illustrating how different and complementary information is
contained in different parts of the spectrum.
Left image:This false-color image covers an area 60 kilometers (37 miles) wide and
120 kilometers (75 miles) long in three bands of the short wavelength infrared region.
While ,much of the island was covered in clouds, the dominant central Mauna Loa
volcano, rising to an altitude of 4115 meters (13,500 feet), is cloud-free. Lava flows can
be seen radiating from the central crater in green and black tones. As they reach lower
elevations, the flows become covered with vegetation, and their image color changes to
yellow and orange. Mauna Kea volcano to the north of Mauna Loa has a thin cloud-cover,
producing a bluish tone on the image. The ocean in the lower right appears brown due to
the color processing.
Right image:This image is a false-color composite of three thermal infrared bands.
The brightness of the colors is proportional to the temperature, and the hues display
differences in rock composition. Clouds are black, because they are the coldest objects
in the scene. The ocean and thick vegetation appear dark green because they are colder
than bare rock surfaces, and have no thermal spectral features. Lava flows are shades
of magenta, green, pink and yellow, reflecting chemical changes due to weathering and
relative age differences.
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is one of
five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra
satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and

(ASTER) Digital Elevation

Model combined with a simulated
natural color ASTER image, July 13,
2001. It shows El Misti volcano
towering 5822 ms high above the
second city of Peru, Arequipa, with a
population of more than one million.
Geologic studies indicate that El Misti
has had five minor eruptions this
century, and a major eruption in the
15th century when residents were
forced to flee the city.
Despite the obvious hazard, civil
defense authorities see it as a remote
danger, and city planners are not
avoiding development on the volcano
side of the city.
This view shows human development
extending up the flanks of the volcano
along gullies which would form natural
channels
for
flows
of
lava,
superheated ash and gas, or melted
ice, snow, and mud from the summit
snowfield in the event of an eruption.

ASTER's ability to sense fine-scale heated surfaces is providing never-before seen

views of active volcanic eruptions. These observations provide a detailed look into
the eruptive history. Lava flows, hot mudflows, and other details of eruption
activity that cannot be seen using other techniques are revealed. Michael Ramsey of
the University of Pittsburgh will present initial observations of the recent phases
of two ongoing eruptions in the Caribbean (Montserrat) and Russia (Bezymianny).

Recurring eruptions of the Colima Volcanco have

left visible changes on the local landscape since
February 2003. The Advanced Spaceborne
Thermal
Emission
and
Reflection
Radiometer(ASTER)flying
on
NASAsTerrasatellite, captured images of the
Colima Volcano on June 21, 2005 (top), June 3,
2005 (middle), and February 6, 2003 (bottom).
In these false-color images, vegetation appears
in red, and rock and ash flows appear in gray.
Between June 3 and June 21, eruptions sent a
silvery gray stream of ash and rock down the
east side of the mountain and dusted the forest
with ash. In contrast to February 2003, the
area covered by rock and ash has expanded in
both 2005 images. The white clouds seen in both
June images may be steam from the volcano but
are more likely clouds passing overhead.
Recorded eruptions of the Colima Volcano date
back to the 16th century, and a major eruption
in 1913 destroyed the volcanos summit.
Volcanoes posemultiple hazards, many of which
have been felt by local residents. According to
news reports, repeated eruptions since early
May 2005 have prompted evacuations of nearby
communities. Ash fall has covered local
highways, forced a temporary closure of Colima
International Airport, and even killed some local
livestock.

This view of northern Patagonia, at Los Menucos, Argentina shows remnants of

relatively young volcanoes built upon an eroded plain of much older and contorted
volcanic, granitic, and sedimentary rocks. The large purple, brown, and green
'butterfly' pattern is a single volcano that has been deeply eroded.
Large holes on the volcano's flanks indicate that they may have collapsed soon after
eruption, as fluid molten rock drained out from under its cooled and solidified outer
shell.
At the upper left, a more recent eruption occurred and produced a small volcanic cone
and a long stream of lava, which flowed down a gully.
At the top of the image, volcanic intrusions permeated the older rocks resulting in a
chain of small dark volcanic peaks.
At the top center of the image, two halves of a tan ellipse pattern are offset from
each other. This feature is an old igneous intrusion that has been split by a rightlateral fault. The apparent offset is about 6.6 kilometers (4 miles). Color, tonal, and
topographic discontinuities reveal the fault trace as it extends across the image to
the lower left. However, young unbroken basalt flows show that the fault has not
been active recently.
This cross-eyed stereoscopic image pair was generated using topographic data from
the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, combined with an enhanced Landsat 7 satellite
color image. The topography data are used to create two differing perspectives of a
single image, one perspective for each eye. In doing so, each point in the image is
shifted slightly, depending on its elevation. When stereoscopically merged, the result
is a vertically exaggerated view of the Earth's surface in its full three dimensions.

Anticlinal Picn Leuf

Basamento

Chacaico-Charahuilla

Cerro Marucho

Cerro Picn Leuf

Topographic data provided by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission can

provide many clues to geologic history and processes. This view of an area
southwest of Zapala, Argentina, shows a wide diversity of geologic features.
The highest peaks (left) appear to be massive (un-layered) crystalline rocks,
perhaps granites. To their right (eastward) are tilted and eroded layered
sedimentary rocks. Farther east and south, more subtle and curvilinear
ridges show that the rock layers have not only been tilted but also folded. At
the upper right, plateaus that cap the underlying geologic complexities are
more recent lava flows - younger than the folding, but older than the current
erosional pattern. Landforms in the southeast (lower right) and south-central
areas appear partially wind sculpted.
This anaglyph was produced by first shading a preliminary elevation model
from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.