1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
3.
Ultra-prominent peak
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An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is defined as a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are approximately 1,524 such peaks on Earth, some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term Ultra is due to earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s and his original term was ultra major mountain, referring to peaks with at least 5,000 ft of prominence. Currently,1,515 Ultras have been identified worldwide,637 in Asia,355 in North America,209 in South America,119 in Europe,84 in Africa,69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the worlds largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, on the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names, a number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a value almost equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
West New Britain Province
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West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The area of the province in 20,387 km², West New Britain produces palm oil for export. There are seven major tribes, the Nakanai, Bakovi, Kove, Unea, Maleu, Kaulong and Arowe, people from West New Britain are widely referred to as Kombes throughout Papua New Guinea, in metonymic reference to the significant Kove people. There are substantial oil palm plantations on the north coast of the province especially in the Kimbe region, the Walindi dive resort near Kimbe is a significant tourist destination for overseas visitors to Papua New Guinea. There are two districts in the province, each district has one or more Local Level Government areas. For census purposes, the LLG areas are subdivided into wards, the province and each district is represented by a Member of the National Parliament. There is one provincial electorate and each district is an open electorate, the following table lists Members before and after the 2007 general election
6.
Papua New Guinea
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Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua, Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. There are 852 known languages in the country, of which 12 have no known living speakers, most of the population of more than 7 million people live in customary communities, which are as diverse as the languages. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 percent of its live in urban centres. The country is one of the worlds least explored, culturally and geographically and it is known to have numerous groups of uncontacted peoples, and researchers believe there are many undiscovered species of plants and animals in the interior. Papua New Guinea is classified as an economy by the International Monetary Fund. Strong growth in Papua New Guineas mining and resource sector led to the becoming the sixth fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011. Growth was expected to slow once major resource projects came on line in 2015, mining remains a major economic factor, however. Local and national governments are discussing the potential of resuming mining operations in Panguna mine in Bougainville Province, nearly 40 percent of the population lives a self-sustainable natural lifestyle with no access to global capital. Most of the still live in strong traditional social groups based on farming. Their social lives combine traditional religion with modern practices, including primary education, at the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975. This followed nearly 60 years of Australian administration, which started during the Great War and it became an independent Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in its own right. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea around 42,000 to 45,000 years ago and they were descendants of migrants out of Africa, in one of the early waves of human migration. Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, a major migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to coastal regions of New Guinea took place around 500 BC. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, in the 18th century, traders brought the sweet potato to New Guinea, where it was adopted and became part of the staples. Portuguese traders had obtained it from South America and introduced it to the Moluccas, the far higher crop yields from sweet potato gardens radically transformed traditional agriculture and societies. Sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and resulted in a significant increase in population in the highlands. In 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, missionary Harry Dauncey found 10,000 skulls in the islands Long Houses, traders from Southeast Asia had visited New Guinea beginning 5,000 years ago to collect bird of paradise plumes
7.
Stratovolcano
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A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma then rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome. In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
8.
Volcanic arc
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A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanoes formed above a subducting plate, positioned in an arc shape as seen from above. Offshore volcanoes form islands, resulting in an island arc. Generally, volcanic arcs result from the subduction of a tectonic plate under another tectonic plate. The oceanic plate is saturated with water, and volatiles such as water drastically lower the point of the mantle. As the oceanic plate is subducted, it is subjected to greater and greater pressures with increasing depth and this pressure squeezes water out of the plate and introduces it to the mantle. Here the mantle melts and forms magma at depth under the overriding plate, the magma ascends to form an arc of volcanoes parallel to the subduction zone. The Hawaiian Islands form a typical hotspot chain, the islands to the northwest are smaller and more lush than the recently created Hawaii island itself. Hotspot volcanoes are known as intra-plate volcanoes, and the islands they create are known as Volcanic Ocean Islands. Volcanic arcs do not generally such a simple age-pattern. There are two types of volcanic arcs, oceanic arcs form when oceanic crust subducts beneath other oceanic crust on an adjacent plate, continental arcs form when oceanic crust subducts beneath continental crust on an adjacent plate, creating an arc-shaped mountain belt. In some situations, a subduction zone may show both aspects along its length, as part of a plate subducts beneath a continent and part beneath adjacent oceanic crust. Volcanoes are present in almost any mountain belt, but this does not make it a volcanic arc, often there are isolated, but impressively huge volcanoes in a mountain belt. For instance, Vesuvius and the Etna volcanoes in Italy are part of separate, the active front of a volcanic arc is the belt where volcanism develops at a given time. Active fronts may move over time, changing their distance from the trench as well as their width. This loss of water is due to the destabilization of the mineral chlorite at approximately 40–60 km depth. On the subducting side of the arc is a deep and narrow oceanic trench. This trench is created by the pull of the relatively dense subducting plate pulling the leading edge of the plate downward. Multiple earthquakes occur along this boundary with the seismic hypocenters located at increasing depth under the island arc
9.
Volcanic belt
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A volcanic belt is a large volcanically active region. Other terms are used for areas of activity, such as volcanic fields. Volcanic belts are found above zones of high temperature where magma is created by partial melting of solid material in the Earths crust. These areas usually form along tectonic plate boundaries at depths of 10–50 km, the deeply deformed and eroded remnants of ancient volcanic belts are found in volcanically inactive regions such as the Canadian Shield. It contains over 150 volcanic belts that range from 600 to 1200 million years old and these are zones of variably metamorphosed mafic to ultramafic volcanic sequences with associated sedimentary rocks that form what are known as greenstone belts. They are thought to have formed at ancient oceanic spreading centers, the Abitibi greenstone belt in Ontario and Quebec, Canada is one of the worlds largest greenstone belts. Volcanic belts may be formed by multiple tectonic settings, an oceanic plate ordinarily slides underneath a continental plate, this often creates an orogenic zone with many volcanoes and earthquakes. In a sense, subduction zones are the opposite of divergent boundaries, areas where material rises up from the mantle, Volcanic belts may also be formed by hotspots, which is a location on the Earths surface that has experienced active volcanism for a long period of time. These volcanic belts are called volcanic chains, but more recently some geologists, such as Gillian Foulger view upper-mantle convection as a cause. This in turn has re-raised the antipodal pair impact hypothesis, the idea that pairs of opposite hot spots may result from the impact of a large meteor. Geologists have identified some 40-50 such hotspots around the globe, with Hawaii, Réunion, Yellowstone, Galápagos, and Iceland overlying the most currently active. An example of a volcanic belt is the Anahim Volcanic Belt in British Columbia, Canada. Most hotspot volcanoes are basaltic because they erupt through oceanic lithosphere, as a result, they are less explosive than subduction zone volcanoes, which have high water contents. Where hotspots occur under continental crust, basaltic magma is trapped in the less dense continental crust and these rhyolites can be quite hot and form violent eruptions, despite their low water content. For example, the Yellowstone Caldera was formed by some of the most powerful explosions in geologic history. Andean Volcanic Belt Garibaldi Volcanic Belt Taupo Volcanic Zone Plate tectonics
10.
Types of volcanic eruptions
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Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content
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Basalt
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Basalt is a common extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic lava exposed at or very near the surface of a planet or moon. Flood basalt describes the formation in a series of basalt flows. By definition, basalt is an igneous rock with generally 45-55% silica and less than 10% feldspathoid by volume. Basalt commonly features a very fine-grained or glassy matrix interspersed with visible mineral grains, the average density is 3.0 gm/cm3. Basalt is defined by its content and texture, and physical descriptions without mineralogical context may be unreliable in some circumstances. Basalt is usually grey to black in colour, but rapidly weathers to brown or rust-red due to oxidation of its mafic minerals into hematite, although usually characterized as dark, basaltic rocks exhibit a wide range of shading due to regional geochemical processes. Due to weathering or high concentrations of plagioclase, some basalts can be quite light-coloured and these phenocrysts usually are of olivine or a calcium-rich plagioclase, which have the highest melting temperatures of the typical minerals that can crystallize from the melt. Basalt with a texture is called vesicular basalt, when the bulk of the rock is mostly solid. Gabbro is often marketed commercially as black granite and these ultramafic volcanic rocks, with silica contents below 45% are usually classified as komatiites. Agricola applied basalt to the black rock of the Schloßberg at Stolpen. Tholeiitic basalt is relatively rich in silica and poor in sodium, included in this category are most basalts of the ocean floor, most large oceanic islands, and continental flood basalts such as the Columbia River Plateau. Basalt rocks are in some cases classified after their content in High-Ti and Low-Ti varieties. High-Ti and Low-Ti basalts have been distinguished in the Paraná and Etendeka traps and it has greater than 17% alumina and is intermediate in composition between tholeiite and alkali basalt, the relatively alumina-rich composition is based on rocks without phenocrysts of plagioclase. Alkali basalt is relatively poor in silica and rich in sodium and it is silica-undersaturated and may contain feldspathoids, alkali feldspar and phlogopite. Boninite is a form of basalt that is erupted generally in back-arc basins. Ocean island basalt Lunar basalt On Earth, most basalt magmas have formed by melting of the mantle. Basalt commonly erupts on Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter, and has formed on the Moon, Mars, Venus. The crustal portions of oceanic tectonic plates are composed predominantly of basalt, produced from upwelling mantle below, the mineralogy of basalt is characterized by a preponderance of calcic plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene
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Andesite
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For the extinct cephalopod genus, see Andesites. Andesite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the type between basalt and dacite, and ranges from 57 to 63% silicon dioxide as illustrated in TAS diagrams. The mineral assemblage is dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene or hornblende. Magnetite, zircon, apatite, ilmenite, biotite, and garnet are common accessory minerals, alkali feldspar may be present in minor amounts. The quartz-feldspar abundances in andesite and other rocks are illustrated in QAPF diagrams. Classification of andesites may be refined according to the most abundant phenocryst, example, hornblende-phyric andesite, if hornblende is the principal accessory mineral. Andesite can be considered as the equivalent of plutonic diorite. Characteristic of subduction zones, andesite represents the dominant rock type in island arcs, the average composition of the continental crust is andesitic. Along with basalts they are a component of the Martian crust. The name andesite is derived from the Andes mountain range, magmatism in island arc regions comes from the interplay of the subducting plate and the mantle wedge, the wedge-shaped region between the subducting and overriding plates. During subduction, the oceanic crust is submitted to increasing pressure and temperature. Hydrous minerals such as amphibole, zeolites, chlorite etc. dehydrate as they change to more stable, anhydrous forms, releasing water, fluxing water into the wedge lowers the solidus of the mantle material and causes partial melting. Due to the density of the partially molten material, it rises through the wedge until it reaches the lower boundary of the overriding plate. Basalt thus formed can contribute to the formation of andesite through fractional crystallization, partial melting of crust, or magma mixing, andesite is typically formed at convergent plate margins but may occur in other tectonic settings. Intermediate volcanic rocks are created via several processes, Fractional crystallization of a mafic parent magma and this removal can take place in a variety of ways, but most commonly this occurs by crystal settling. The first minerals to crystallize and be removed from a parent are olivines and amphiboles. These mafic minerals settle out of the magma, forming mafic cumulates, there is geophysical evidence from several arcs that large layers of mafic cumulates lie at the base of the crust
13.
New Britain
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New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits, the main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan, while the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern. New Britain extends from 148°1831 to 152°2357 E longitude and from 4°0825 to 6°1831 S latitude and it is crescent-shaped, approximately 520 km along its southeastern coastline, and from 29 to 146 km wide, not including a small central peninsula. The air-line distance from west to east is 477 km, the island is the 38th largest in the world, with an area of 36,520 km2. Steep cliffs form some sections of the coastline, in others the mountains are further inland, the highest point, at 2,438 m, is Mount Sinewit in the Baining range in the east. Most of the terrain is covered with tropical rainforest and several rivers are fed by the high rainfall. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul, most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo. New Britain forms part of the Islands Region, one of four regions of Papua New Guinea, New Britain became part of German New Guinea. In 1909, the population was estimated at about 190,000. The expatriate population was confined to the northeastern Gazelle Peninsula. At the time 5,448 hectares had been converted to plantations, primarily growing copra, cotton, coffee, westerners avoided exploring the interior initially, believing that the indigenous peoples were warlike and would fiercely resist intrusions. On 11 September 1914, New Britain became the site of one of the earliest battles of World War I when the Australian Naval and they quickly overwhelmed the German forces and occupied the island for the duration of the war. After World War I the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919, in 1920 the League of Nations included New Britain along with the former German colony on New Guinea in the Territory of New Guinea, a mandated territory of Australia. During World War II the Japanese attacked New Britain soon after the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific Ocean, strategic bases at Rabaul and Kavieng were defended by a small Australian detachment, Lark Force. During January 1942, the Japanese heavily bombed Rabaul, on 23 January, Japanese marines landed by the thousands, starting the Battle of Rabaul. The Japanese used Rabaul as a key base until 1944, it served as the key point for the invasion of Port Moresby. New Britain was invaded by the U. S, 1st Marine Division in the Cape Gloucester area of the very western end of the island, and also by U. S. Army soldiers at some other coastal points
14.
Rabaul
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Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, on the island of New Britain, in the country of Papua New Guinea. New Britain is an island about 60 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea, Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air, after the eruption the capital was moved to Kokopo, about 20 kilometres away. Rabaul is continually threatened by volcanic activity because it is on the edge of Rabaul caldera, Rabaul was planned and built around the harbor area known as Simpsonhafen during the German New Guinea administration which controlled the region between 1884 and formally through 1919. From 1910 Rabaul was the headquarters of German New Guinea until captured by the British Empire during the days of World War I. It became the capital of the Australian mandated Territory of New Guinea until 1937 when it was first destroyed by a volcano. During World War II it was captured by the Japanese in 1942, tourism is a major industry in Rabaul and East New Britain generally. Rabauls proximity to its volcanoes has always been a source of concern, in 1878 before it was established as a town, an eruption formed a volcano in the harbour. That settlement was thus substantially enlarged with official buildings and housing and renamed Rabaul, following Germanys defeat at the end of the war, the occupied territory was delegated in 1920 to Australia as a League of Nations Mandate. Rabaul became the capital of the Territory of New Guinea, visits to and stays in Rabaul during this period were amply described in books by many authors, including Margaret Mead. Gunantambu, the house of “Queen” Emma Forsayth and her husband, contained furniture previously owned by Robert Louis Stevenson. Destroyed in the 1937 volcano eruption, its remains became a tourist attraction after World War II, Rabaul volcano is one of the most active and most dangerous volcanoes in Papua New Guinea. Having erupted and entirely destroyed Rabaul in 1937, five years before the occupation by Japan, Rabaul exploded violently in 1994, since then, the young cone Tavurvur located inside the caldera has been the site of near persistent activity in form of strombolian to vulcanian ash eruptions. The caldera has a form and is surrounded by a steep volcanic ridge several hundred meters high. Under the Australian administration, Rabaul developed into a regional base, then in 1937, catastrophic volcanic eruptions destroyed the town after the two volcanoes, Tavurvur and Vulcan, exploded. 507 people were killed, and there was widespread damage, following this, the Australian administration for the Territory of New Guinea decided to move the territorial headquarters to the safer location of Lae. All long-term steps to re-establish the territorial headquarters at Rabaul were forestalled during World War II, by the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor it was apparent they would soon attack Rabaul. So, by December 1941, women and children were evacuated, in January 1942 Rabaul was heavily bombed, on 23 January the Battle of Rabaul began and Rabaul was captured shortly thereafter with the landing of thousands of Japanese naval landing forces
15.
Bismarck Archipelago
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The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km, later arrivals included the Lapita people. The first European to visit these islands was Dutch explorer Willem Schouten in 1616, the islands remained unsettled by western Europeans until they were annexed as part of the German protectorate of German New Guinea in 1884. The area was named in honour of the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, on 13 March 1888, a volcano erupted on Ritter Island causing a megatsunami. Almost the entire volcano fell into the ocean, leaving a crater lake. Following the outbreak of World War I, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force seized the islands in 1914 and they remained under Australian administration—interrupted only by Japanese occupation during World War II—until Papua New Guinea became independent in September 1975. The Bismarck Archipelago includes mostly volcanic islands with a land area of 49,700 km2. The archipelago encompasses the Bismarck Sea and sits upon the North Bismarck Plate, the Manus Plate, Georges Channel after St. Georges Channel in the British Isles between Wales and Ireland. Tides of History, The Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century, Papua New Guinea Atlas, A Nation in Transition. Bathurst, Australia, R. Brown and the University of Papua New Guinea, New Guinea, Crossing Boundaries and History. Ryan, Peter, ed. Encyclopedia of Papua New Guinea,3 volumes, Vol I, A - K, maps, black and white illustrations, xv + 588pp. Vol II, l - Z, maps, black and white illustrations, Vol III, Index, folding colour map in rear pocket, map, colour illustration, v + 83pp
16.
William Dampier
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William Dampier was an English explorer and navigator who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also described as Australias first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between Sir Walter Raleigh and James Cook. On a later voyage he rescued Alexander Selkirk, a former crewmate who may have inspired Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe, others influenced by Dampier include James Cook, Horatio Nelson, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace. William Dampier was born at Hymerford House in East Coker, Somerset and he was baptised on 5 September, but his precise date of birth is not recorded. He was educated at Kings School, Bruton, Dampier sailed on two merchant voyages to Newfoundland and Java before joining the Royal Navy in 1673. He took part in the two Battles of Schooneveld in June of that year, Dampiers service was cut short by a catastrophic illness, and he returned to England for several months of recuperation. For the next years he tried his hand at various careers, including plantation management in Jamaica and logging in Mexico. Returning to England, he married Judith around 1679, only to leave for the sea a few months later. This led to his first circumnavigation, during which he accompanied a raid across the Isthmus of Darién in Panama, the pirates then raided Spanish settlements in Peru before returning to the Caribbean. Dampier made his way to Virginia, where in 1683 he was engaged by the privateer John Cooke, Cooke entered the Pacific via Cape Horn and spent a year raiding Spanish possessions in Peru, the Galápagos Islands, and Mexico. This expedition collected buccaneers and ships as it went along, at one time having a fleet of ten vessels, Cooke died in Mexico, and a new leader, Edward Davis, was elected captain by the crew. Dampier transferred to the privateer Charles Swans ship, Cygnet, and on 31 March 1686 they set out across the Pacific to raid the East Indies, calling at Guam, Spanish witnesses saw the predominantly English crew as not only pirates and heretics but also cannibals. Leaving Swan and 36 others behind on Mindanao, the rest of the privateers sailed on to Manila, Poulo Condor, China, the Spice Islands, and New Holland. On 5 January 1688, Cygnet anchored two miles from shore in 29 fathoms on the northwest coast of Australia, near King Sound. Dampier and his ship remained there until March 12, and while the ship was being careened Dampier made notes on the fauna and flora, among his fellows were a significant number of Spanish sailors, most notably Alonso Ramírez, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Later that year, by agreement, Dampier and two shipmates were marooned on one of the Nicobar Islands and they obtained a small canoe which they modified after first capsizing and then, after surviving a great storm at sea, called at Acheen in Sumatra. Dampier returned to England in 1691 via the Cape of Good Hope, penniless and he also had as a source of income a slave known as Prince Jeoly, from Miangas, who became famous for his tattoos. Dampier exhibited Jeoly in London, thereby also generating publicity for a book based on his diaries, the publication of the book, A New Voyage Round the World, in 1697 was a popular sensation, creating interest at the Admiralty
17.
Teide
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Mount Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its 3, 718-metre summit is the highest point in Spain, if measured from the ocean floor, it is at 7,500 m the highest volcano in the world base-to-peak outside of the Hawaiian Islands. Its elevation makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world and it remains active, its most recent eruption occurred in 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on the northwestern Santiago rift. Teide, Pico Viejo and Montaña Blanca form the Central Volcanic Complex of Tenerife, the volcano and its surroundings comprise Teide National Park, which has an area of 18,900 hectares and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on June 28,2007. Teide is the most visited natural wonder of Spain, the most visited park in Spain and Europe and – by 2015 – the eighth most visited in the world. A major international astronomical observatory is located on the slopes of the mountain, before the 1495 Spanish colonization of Tenerife, the native Guanches called the volcano Echeyde, which in their legends referred to a powerful figure leaving the volcano, which could turn into hell. El Pico del Teide is the modern Spanish name, Teide was a sacred mountain for the aboriginal Guanches, so it was considered a mythological mountain, as Mount Olympus was to the ancient Greeks. According to legend, Guayota kidnapped Magec and imprisoned him inside the volcano, the Guanches asked their supreme god Achamán for clemency, so Achamán fought Guayota, freed Magec from the bowels of the mountain, and plugged the crater with Guayota. It is said that then, Guayota has remained locked inside Teide. When going on to Teide during an eruption, it was customary for the Guanches to light bonfires to scare Guayota, Guayota is often represented as a black dog, accompanied by his host of demons. The Guanches also believed that Teide held up the sky, many hiding places found in the mountains contain the remains of stone tools and pottery. These have been interpreted as being ritual deposits to counter the influence of evil spirits, the Guanches believed the mountain to be the place that housed the forces of evil and the most evil figure, Guayota. The stratovolcanoes Teide and Pico Viejo are the most recent centres of activity on the island of Tenerife. It has a complex volcanic history, the formation of the island and the development of the current Teide volcano took place in the five stages shown in the diagram on the right. Like the other Canary Islands, and volcanic islands in general. This early shield stage volcanism formed the bulk of the part of Tenerife. The shield volcanoes date back to the Miocene and early Pliocene and are preserved in three isolated and deeply eroded massifs, Anaga, Teno and Roque del Conde, each shield was apparently constructed in less than three million years, and the entire island in about eight million years. The initial juvenile stage was followed by a period of 2–3 million years of eruptive quiescence and this cessation of activity is typical of the Canaries, La Gomera, for example, is currently at this stage
18.
Mount Nyiragongo
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Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 metres in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20 km north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu, the main crater is about two kilometres wide and usually contains a lava lake. The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls - one at about 3,175 m, Nyiragongos lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history. The depth of the lake varies considerably. A maximum elevation of the lake was recorded at about 3,250 m prior to the January 1977 eruption - a lake depth of about 600 m. A recent very low elevation of the lake was recorded at about 2,700 m. Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40% of Africas historical volcanic eruptions, the volcano partly overlaps with two older volcanoes, Baratu and Shaheru, and is also surrounded by hundreds of small volcanic cinder cones from flank eruptions. The lava emitted in eruptions at Nyiragongo is often unusually fluid, Nyiragongos lavas are made of melilite nephelinite, an alkali-rich type of volcanic rock whose unusual chemical composition may be a factor in the unusual fluidity of the lavas there. Whereas most lava flows rather slowly and rarely pose a danger to human life. This is because of the extremely low silica content, the lava lake activity continued through 2010. At present, the lake is mostly confined within a broad, steep-sided cinder cone on the crater floor, between 1894 and 1977 the crater contained an active lava lake. On 10 January 1977, the crater walls fractured, and the lake drained in less than an hour. The lava flowed down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to 60 km/h, on the upper slopes, overwhelming villages and killing at least 70 people. The hazards posed by eruptions like this are unique to Nyiragongo, nowhere else in the world does such a steep-sided stratovolcano contain a lake of such fluid lava. Nyiragongos proximity to populated areas increases its potential for causing a natural disaster. The 1977 eruption raised awareness of the dangers posed by Nyiragongo. The 1977 eruption was preceded by the creation of a new volcano, Murara. Lava lakes reformed in the crater in eruptions in 1982–1983 and 1994, another major eruption of the volcano began on January 17,2002, after several months of increased seismic and fumarolic activity
19.
Mount Vesuvius
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Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc, Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, more than 1,000 people died in the eruption, but exact numbers are unknown. The only surviving account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Vesuvius has a historic and literary tradition. An inscription from Capua to IOVI VESVVIO indicates that he was worshipped as a power of Jupiter and it was inhabited by bandits, the sons of the Earth, who were giants. With the assistance of the gods he pacified the region and went on, the facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether Herculaneum was named after it. An epigram by the poet Martial in 88 AD suggests that both Venus, patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the devastated by the eruption of 79. Mount Vesuvius was regarded by the Romans as being devoted to the hero, Vesuvius was a name of the volcano in frequent use by the authors of the late Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. Its collateral forms were Vesaevus, Vesevus, Vesbius and Vesvius, writers in ancient Greek used Οὐεσούιον or Οὐεσούιος. Many scholars since then have offered an etymology, as peoples of varying ethnicity and language occupied Campania in the Roman Iron Age, the etymology depends to a large degree on the presumption of what language was spoken there at the time. Naples was settled by Greeks, as the name Nea-polis, New City, the Oscans, a native Italic people, lived in the countryside. The Latins also competed for the occupation of Campania, etruscan settlements were in the vicinity. Other peoples of unknown provenance are said to have been there at some time by various ancient authors. Some theories about its origin are, From Greek οὔ = not prefixed to a root from or related to the Greek word σβέννυμι = I quench, from Greek ἕω = I hurl and βίη violence, hurling violence, *vesbia, taking advantage of the collateral form. From an Indo-European root, *eus- < *ewes- < *wes-, shine sense the one who lightens, the Gran Cono was produced during the A. D.79 eruption. For this reason, the volcano is also called Somma-Vesuvius or Somma-Vesuvio, the caldera started forming during an eruption around 17,000 years ago and was enlarged by later paroxysmal eruptions, ending in the one of AD79
20.
Mount Etna
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Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate and it is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently 3,329 m high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region, Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the slopes of the mountain. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations, in June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to Adrian Room’s book Place-names of the World, the name Etna originated from the Phoenician word attuna meaning furnace or chimney and he dismisses the hypothesis that Etna is from the Greek αἴθω, meaning I burn, through an iotacist pronunciation. In Classical Greek, it is called Αἴτνη, a name also to Catania and the city originally known as Inessa. In Arabic, it was called جبل النار Jabal al-Nār and it is also known as Mungibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello or Montebello in Italian. The term is not in use today, although some older people still call it this. According to another hypothesis the term Mongibello comes from the Latin Mulciber, the people of the Etna sometimes use the jargon term a muntagna, simply the mountain par excellence. Nowadays, the term Mongibello indicates the top area of the two central craters encompassing also the craters in the southeast and the northeast of the volcanic cone. Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about 500,000 years ago, about 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the summit then, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, the growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions, leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas. From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating pyroclastic flows. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as south of Romes border,800 km to the north, the landslide left a large depression in the side of the volcano, known as Valle del Bove. Research published in 2006 suggested this occurred around 8000 years ago, and caused a huge tsunami and it may have been the reason the settlement of Atlit Yam, now below sea level, was suddenly abandoned around that time
21.
Santorini caldera
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Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea,120 kilometers north of Crete in Greece. Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consisting of Santorini, the island, Therasia and Aspronisi at the periphery. The caldera measures about 12 by 7 km, with 300 m high cliffs on three sides. There are two volcanic islands at the center of the caldera, Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni. The main island, Santorini has an area of 75.8 km2 km2, Therasia 9.3 km2, the volcanic complex of Santorini is the most active part of the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, which includes the volcanoes of Methana, Milos, Santorini and Nisyros. It marks the subduction of the African tectonic plate underneath the Aegean subplate of the Eurasian tectonic plate and it is characterized by earthquakes at depths of 150–170 km. Non-volcanic rocks are exposed on Santorini at the Profitis Ilias Mountain, Mesa Vouno, the Gavrillos ridge, Pirgos, Monolithos, the Kameni islands at the center of the caldera are made of lava rocks. The subsequent Skaros caldera was created about 70,000 years BP, the current caldera was formed about 3600 years BP during the Minoan eruption. Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni were formed as a result of multiple, although dormant, Santorini is an active volcano. Numerous minor and medium-sized, mainly effusive eruptions have built the dark-colored lava shields of Nea and Palea Kameni inside the caldera and their last eruption was in 1950, and now only fumarolic activity, primarily inside the recently active craters, takes place. GPS instruments have registered renewed deformation around the caldera in 2011 and 2012, the huge Minoan eruption of Santorini in the 17th century BC may have inspired the legend of Atlantis. It was rated 7, the highest score for a historical eruption, in the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Programs Volcanic Explosivity Index
22.
Mount Unzen
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Mount Unzen is an active volcanic group of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, on the island of Kyūshū, Japans southernmost main island. In 1792, the collapse of one of its several lava domes triggered a megatsunami that killed 14,524 people in Japans worst-ever volcanic-related disaster. The volcano was most recently active from 1990 to 1995, currently its highest peaks are Fugen-dake at 1,359 metres and Heisei-shinzan at 1,486 metres. The latter emerged during the eruptions of the early, eponymous Heisei era, Mount Unzen is part of Shimabara Peninsula, which has seen extensive volcanism over millions of years. The oldest volcanic deposits in the date from over 6 million years ago. The origins of the Unzen complex are traced to the formation of a graben through crustal faulting and this caused parts of the peninsula to subside by up to 1,000 metres below sea level and may have caused eruptive activity to localize at one site inside the graben. Eruptions of dacitic lava began from a site slightly to the south of todays Mount Unzen, the volcano rapidly grew during its first 200,000 years, forming a large cone. Later eruptions over the following 150,000 years filled in much of the graben, initially, activity was dominated by blocky andesitic lava and ash flows, changing to dacitic pumice flows and airfall deposits from 500,000 to 400,000 years ago. The period from 400,000 to 300,000 years ago saw the emplacement of large areas of flow and lahar deposits. Beginning 300,000 to 150,000 years ago, thick phreatomagmatic deposits were laid down, Fugen-dake has been the site of most eruptions during the past 20,000 years and lies about 6 kilometres from the center of Shimabara. Unzens deadliest eruption occurred in 1792, with a large lava flow coming from Fugen-dake. The east flank of the Mayu-yama dome collapsed unexpectedly following a post-eruption earthquake and this caused a megatsunami that reached a height of 100 metres, and killed an estimated 15,000 people. As of 2011 it is the worst volcanic related eruption in Japan, after 1792, the volcano remained dormant until November 1989 when an earthquake swarm began about 20 kilometres underneath and 10 kilometres west of Fugendake. Over the following year, earthquakes continued, their hypocentres gradually migrating towards the summit, the first phreatic eruptions began in November 1990, and after inflation of the summit area, fresh lava began to emerge on May 20,1991. The threat of further disastrous events prompted authorities to evacuate 12,000 local residents from their homes, on June 3,1991, the volcano erupted violently, possibly as a result of depressurisation of the magma column after a landslide in the crater. Between 1991 and 1994 the volcano generated at least 10,000 small pyroclastic flows, from 1993 onward, the rate of lava effusion gradually decreased, and eruptions came to an end in 1995. Since then heavy rains have frequently remobilised pyroclastic material, generating lahars, dikes have been constructed in several river valleys to channel lahar flows away from vulnerable areas, and warning systems and evacuation plans have been developed and deployed. In 1999, a project began at Mount Unzen to drill deep inside the volcano
23.
Sakurajima
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Sakurajima is an active composite volcano and a former island in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption caused the island to be connected with the Osumi Peninsula. The volcanic activity continues, dropping large amounts of volcanic ash on the surroundings. Earlier eruptions built the white sands highlands in the region, as of September 2015, the volcano is under a Level 3 alert by the Japan Meteorological Agency, signifying the volcano is active and should not be approached. The most recent eruption started on February 5,2016, on September 13,2016 a team of experts from Bristol University and the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre in Japan suggested that the volcano could have a major eruption within 30 years. Its summit has three peaks, Kita-dake, Naka-dake and Minami-dake which is active now, Kita-dake is Sakurajimas highest peak, rising to 1,117 m above sea level. The mountain is located in a part of Kagoshima Bay known as Kinkō-wan, the former island is part of the city of Kagoshima. The surface of this peninsula is about 77 km2. Sakurajima is located in the Aira caldera and formed in an enormous eruption 22,000 years ago, several hundred cubic kilometres of ash and pumice were ejected, causing the magma chamber underneath the erupting vents to collapse. The resulting caldera is over 20 km across, tephra fell as far as 1,000 km from the volcano. Sakurajima is a modern active vent of the same Aira caldera volcano, Sakurajima was formed by later activity within the caldera, beginning about 13,000 years ago. It lies about 8 km south of the centre of the caldera and its first eruption in recorded history occurred in 963 AD. Most of its eruptions are strombolian, affecting only the summit areas, volcanic activity at Kita-dake ended around 4,900 years ago, subsequent eruptions have been centered on Minami-dake. Since 2006 activity has centred on Showa crater, to the East of the summit of Minami-dake, the 1914 eruption was the most powerful in twentieth-century Japan. Lava flows filled the narrow strait between the island and the mainland, turning it into a peninsula, the volcano had been dormant for over a century until 1914. The 1914 eruption began on January 11, almost all residents had left the island in the previous days, in response to several large earthquakes that warned them that an eruption was imminent. Lava flows are rare in Japan—the high silica content of the magmas there mean that explosive eruptions are far more common—but the lava flows at Sakurajima continued for months, the island grew, engulfing several smaller islands nearby, and eventually becoming connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Parts of Kagoshima bay became significantly shallower, and tides were affected, during the final stages of the eruption, the centre of the Aira Caldera sank by about 60 cm, due to subsidence caused by the emptying out of the underlying magma chamber
24.
Taal Volcano
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Taal Volcano is a complex volcano located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the second most active volcano in the Philippines with 33 historical eruptions, all of these eruptions are concentrated on Volcano Island, an island near the middle of Taal Lake. The lake partially fills Taal Caldera, which was formed by prehistoric eruptions between 140,000 and 5,380 BP, viewed from Tagaytay Ridge, Taal Volcano and Lake presents one of the most picturesque and attractive views in the Philippines. It is located about 50 kilometres south of the capital of the country, the city of Manila. The volcano had several violent eruptions in the past causing loss of life in the island, because of its proximity to populated areas and its eruptive history, the volcano was designated a Decade Volcano, worthy of close study to prevent future natural disasters. All volcanoes of the Philippines are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, as of 1821, the Taal Volcano was also called Bombou. Taal Volcano and Lake are wholly located in the province of Batangas, the northern half of Volcano Island falls under the jurisdiction of the lake shore town of Talisay, and the southern half to San Nicolas. Despite the warnings, poor families have settled on the island, risking their lives, the crater lake on Volcano Island is the largest lake on an island in a lake on an island in the world. Vulcan Point is often cited as the largest third-order island in the world, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology regularly issues notices and warnings about current activity at Taal, including ongoing seismic unrest. From April 9 to July 5, Alert Level on Taal Volcano was raised from 1 to 2 for eleven weeks because of increased seismicity on Volcano Island, frequency peaked to about 115 tremors on May 30 with maximum intensity at IV, accompanied by rumbling sounds. Magma was intruding towards the surface, as indicated by continuing high rates of CO2 emissions in the Main Crater Lake, field measurements on 24 May 2011 showed lake temperatures slightly increased, pH values slightly more acidic and water levels 4 cm higher. A ground deformation survey conducted around the Volcano Island 26 April –3 May 2011 showed that the volcano edifice inflated slightly relative to the 05-11 April 2011 survey. PHIVOLCS raised the status to Alert Level 2, which indicates the volcano is undergoing magmatic intrusion which could eventually lead to an eruption. PHIVOLCS reminds the public that the Main Crater remains off-limits because hazardous steam-driven explosions may occur. Areas with hot ground and steam emission such as a of portions of the Daang Kastila Trail are considered hazardous, Crater lake temperature increased by 2–3 °C. The composition of Main Crater Lake water has shown above normal values of Mg/Cl, SO4/Cl, there has been ground steaming accompanied by hissing sounds on the northern and northeast sides of the main crater. PHIVOLCS notified the public and concerned authorities that the Taal seismic network recorded ten volcanic earthquakes from 5,30 AM to 3 PM. Two of these quakes that occurred at 12,33 and 12,46 PM, were felt at intensity II by residents at barangay Pira-piraso
25.
Mount Merapi
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Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi, is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548, smoke can often be seen emerging from the mountaintop, and several eruptions have caused fatalities. Pyroclastic flow from an explosion killed 27 people on 22 November 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan. Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the Yogyakarta earthquake, in light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated areas, it has been designated as one of the Decade Volcanoes. On 25 October 2010 the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to its highest level, people living within the range of a 20 km zone were told to evacuate. On the afternoon of 25 October 2010 Mount Merapi erupted lava from its southern and southeastern slopes, the mountain was still erupting on 30 November 2010, but due to lowered eruptive activity on 3 December 2010 the official alert status was reduced to level 3. The volcano is now 2930 metres high,38 metres lower than before the 2010 eruptions, after a large eruption in 2010 the characteristic of Mount Merapi was changed. On 18 November 2013 Mount Merapi burst smoke up to 2,000 meters high, researchers said that this eruption occurred due to combined effect of hot volcanic gases and abundant rainfall. The name Merapi could be translated as the Mountain of Fire. The etymology of the came from Meru-Api, from the Javanese combined words, Meru means mountain, refer to mythical mountain of Gods in Hinduism. Merapi is the youngest in a group of volcanoes in southern Java and it is situated at a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is subducting under the Sunda Plate. Since then, eruptions have become more explosive, with viscous andesitic lavas often generating lava domes, dome collapse has often generated pyroclastic flows, and larger explosions, which have resulted in eruption columns, have also generated pyroclastic flows through column collapse. Typically, small eruptions occur every two to three years, and larger ones every 10–15 years or so, notable eruptions, often causing many deaths, have occurred in 1006,1786,1822,1872, and 1930. Thirteen villages were destroyed in the one, and 1400 people killed by pyroclastic flows. The very large eruption in 1006 is claimed to have covered all of central Java with ash, the volcanic devastation is claimed to have led to the collapse of the Hindu Kingdom of Mataram, however, the evidence from that era is insufficient for this to be substantiated. In April 2006, increased seismicity at more regular intervals and a bulge in the volcanos cone indicated that fresh eruptions were imminent. Authorities put the volcanos neighboring villages on high alert and local residents prepared for a likely evacuation, on 19 April smoke from the crater reached a height of 400 metres, compared to 75 metres the previous day. On 23 April, after nine surface tremors and some 156 multifaced quakes signalled movements of magma, some 600 elderly, by early May, active lava flows had begun
26.
Mauna Loa
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Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U. S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa has historically considered the largest volcano on Earth. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, Mauna Loa has probably been erupting for at least 700,000 years, and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago. The oldest-known dated rocks are not older than 200,000 years, the volcanos magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot, which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian island chain over tens of millions of years. The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Loa away from the hotspot within 500,000 to one years from now. Mauna Loas most recent eruption occurred from March 24 to April 15,1984, no recent eruptions of the volcano have caused fatalities, but eruptions in 1926 and 1950 destroyed villages, and the city of Hilo is partly built on lava flows from the late 19th century. Because of the hazards it poses to population centers, Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program. Mauna Loa has been monitored intensively by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912, observations of the atmosphere are undertaken at the Mauna Loa Observatory, and of the Sun at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, both located near the mountains summit. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers the summit and the flank of the volcano, and also incorporates Kīlauea. Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Loa was created as the Pacific tectonic plate moved over the Hawaiian hotspot in the Earths underlying mantle. The Hawaii island volcanoes are the most recent evidence of this process that, the prevailing view states that the hotspot has been largely stationary within the planets mantle for much, if not all of the Cenozoic Era. However, while the Hawaiian mantle plume is well-understood and extensively studied, Mauna Loa is one of five subaerial volcanoes that make up the island of Hawaiʻi, created by the Hawaii hotspot. The oldest volcano on the island, Kohala, is more than a years old, and Kīlauea. Lōʻihi Seamount on the flank is even younger, but has yet to breach the surface. Since then, the volcano has remained active, with a history of effusive and explosive eruptions, although Mauna Loas activity has been overshadowed in recent years by that of its neighbor Kīlauea, it remains active. Mauna Loa is the largest subaerial and second largest overall volcano in the world, covering an area of 5,271 km2. Consisting of approximately 65,000 to 80,000 km3 of solid rock, the shield-stage lavas that built the enormous main mass of the mountain are tholeiitic basalts, like those of Mauna Kea, created through the mixing of primary magma and subducted oceanic crust. Mokuʻāweoweos caldera floor lies between 170 and 50 m beneath its rim and it is only the latest of several calderas that have formed and reformed over the volcanos life, additionally, two smaller pit craters lie southwest of the caldera, named Lua Hou and Lua Hohonu
27.
Avachinsky
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Avachinsky is an active stratovolcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia. It lies within sight of the capital of Kamchatka Krai, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, together with neighboring Koryaksky volcano, it has been designated a Decade Volcano, worthy of particular study in light of its history of explosive eruptions and proximity to populated areas. Avachinskys last eruption occurred in 2008 and this eruption was tiny compared to the volcanos major Volcanic Explosivity Index 4 eruption in 1945. Avachinsky lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at a point where the Pacific Plate is sliding underneath the Eurasian Plate at a rate of about 80 mm/year. A wedge of material lying between the subducting Pacific Plate and the overlying Eurasian Plate is the source of dynamic volcanism over the whole Kamchatka Peninsula. The volcano is one of the most active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula and it has a horseshoe-shaped caldera, which formed 30-40,000 years ago in a major landslide which covered an area of 500 km² south of the volcano, underlying the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Reconstruction of a new cone inside the caldera occurred in two major phases,18,000 and 7,000 years ago. In his Journal of Captain Cooks Last Voyage, John Ledyard records the eruption of Avachinsky on June 15,1779 and he refers to Koryaksky and Avachinsky as Peter and Paul. Avachinsky has erupted at least 16 times in recorded history, eruptions have generally been explosive, and pyroclastic flows and lahars have tended to be directed to the south west by the breached caldera. The most recent large eruption occurred in 1945, when about 0.25 km³ of magma was ejected, the volcano has since had small eruptions in 1991 and 2001. The volcano continues to frequent earthquakes, and many fumaroles exist near the summit. The temperature of gases emitted at these fumaroles has been measured at over 400 °C, list of volcanoes in Russia VolcanoWorld information Avachinsky
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Koryaksky
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Koryaksky or Koryakskaya Sopka is an active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. It lies within sight of Kamchatka Krais administrative center, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, together with neighbouring Avachinsky, it has been designated a Decade Volcano, worthy of particular study in light of its history of explosive eruptions and proximity to populated areas. Koryaksky lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at a point where the Pacific Plate is sliding underneath the Eurasian Plate at about 80 mm/year. A wedge of material lying between the subducting Pacific Plate and the overlying Eurasian Plate is the source of dynamic volcanism over the whole Kamchatka Peninsula. The volcano has probably been active for tens of thousands of years, geological records indicate that there have been three major eruptions in the last 10,000 years, at 5500 BC,1950 BC and 1550 BC. These three eruptions seem to have been mainly effusive, generating extensive lava flows, Koryaksky erupted for the first time in recorded history in 1890. The eruption was characterised by lava emissions from fissures that opened up on the southwestern flank. Another brief, moderately explosive eruption occurred in 1926, after which the volcano lay dormant until 1956, the 1956 eruption was more explosive than the previous known eruptions, with VEI=3, and generated pyroclastic flows and lahars. The eruption continued until June 1957, on December 29,2008, Koryaksky erupted with a 6,000 m plume of ash, the first major eruption in 3,500 years. List of volcanoes in Russia List of ultras of Northeast Asia Droznin D. Levin V, detailed Mapping of Seismic Anisotropy Indicators in Southeastern Kamchatka, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002. Park J. Gordeev E. Droznin D, complex Anisotropic Structure of the Mantle Wedge Beneath Kamchatka Volcanoes, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002. Fumarolic activity of Avachinsky and Koryaksky volcanoes, Kamchatka, from 1993 to 1994, Bulletin of Volcanology, v.58, Koryaksky volcano at SummitPost. org VolcanoWorld information Koryaksky. Pravda article about activity at Koryaksky Koryakskaya Sopka, Russia on Peakbagger NASA - Koryaksky
29.
Galeras
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Galeras Volcano, Galeras is an Andean stratovolcano in the Colombian department of Nariño, near the departmental capital Pasto. Its summit rises 4,276 metres above sea level and it has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest, with its first historical eruption being recorded on December 7,1580. It is currently the most active volcano in Colombia, Galeras has been an active volcano for at least a million years, with andesite as the dominant product. Two major caldera-forming eruptions have occurred, the first about 560,000 years ago in an eruption which expelled about 15 cubic kilometres of material. The second some time between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago, in a smaller but still sizable eruption of 2 cubic kilometres of material, Galeras is considered the most active volcano in Colombia, followed by Nevado del Ruiz. Its earliest activity during the Holocene has been dated at 7050 BC ±1000 years through radiocarbon dating. Other eruptions similar to this event include those in 3150 BC ±200 years,2580 BC ±500 years,1160 BC ±300 years,490 BC ±100 years, and in 890 AD ±200 years. Typically these eruptions consist of a central vent explosion, conducive to an explosive eruption causing pyroclastic flows and/or lahars, reported incidents with no official proof occurred in 1836,1930,1933, and 1973. Galeras became active again in 1988 after 10 years of dormancy, a Decade Volcano conference in the city of Pasto, in 1993, ended in disaster when several of the scientists present mounted an impromptu expedition on 14 January to the crater of Galeras. An eruption occurred unexpectedly while they were at the summit, resulting in the deaths of six scientists, elements in the media made the event controversial by suggesting the expedition leader, geologist Stanley Williams, who survived along with four others, had ignored safety procedures. A prediction had been three days before the eruption based on B-Type activity seen on a seismograph. Seismic B-types had been used successfully to predict eruptions on other volcanoes, activity at a low level has continued at Galeras, with small explosions occasionally dusting nearby villages and towns with ash. The volcano has continued to be studied, and predictions of eruptions at the volcano have improved. One phenomenon, which seems to be a precursor to eruptive activity, is a low-frequency seismic event known as a tornillo event. These have occurred before about four-fifths of the explosions at Galeras, more than 100 minor tremors were felt during a major eruption in April 2002, although no damage or injury was reported. An eruption in November 2005 forced an evacuation of the area surrounding the volcano. The city of Pasto, about 9 kilometres from the volcano, was blanketed by a layer of ash after the explosion, forcing the residents to don goggles. Numerous minor tremors and ash emissions since March 2006 culminated on 12 July 2006 in three explosive eruptions, producing an ash and gas column reaching an altitude of 8 kilometres
30.
Mount Rainier
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Mount Rainier, Mount Tacoma, or Mount Tahoma is the highest mountain of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the highest mountain in the U. S. state of Washington. It is an active stratovolcano located 54 miles south-southeast of Seattle. Because of its amount of glacial ice, Mt.7 million living in its metropolitan area. Mount Rainier was first known by the Native Americans as Talol, one hypothesis of the word origin is, in the Lushootseed language spoken by the Puyallup people. Another hypothesis is that Tacoma means larger than Mount Baker in Lushootseed, Ta, larger, plus Koma, other names originally used include Tahoma, Tacobeh, and Pooskaus. The current name was given by George Vancouver, who named it in honor of his friend, the map of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 refers to it as Mt. Regniere. Tacoma was preferred in the city of Tacoma, in 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as Rainier. Following this in 1897, the Pacific Forest Reserve became the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve, despite this, there was still a movement to change the mountains name to Tacoma and Congress was still considering a resolution to change the name as late as 1924. After the 2015 restoration of the original name Denali to Mount McKinley in Alaska, Mount Rainier is the highest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. This peak is located just east of Eatonville and just southeast of Seattle, Mount Rainier is ranked third of the 128 ultra-prominent mountain peaks of the United States. Mount Rainier has a prominence of 13,210 ft, which is greater than that of K2. On clear days it dominates the horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as the Mountain. On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Corvallis, Oregon and Victoria, with 26 major glaciers and 36 sq mi of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each more than 1,000 ft in diameter, with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater, the Carbon, Puyallup, Mowich, Nisqually, and Cowlitz Rivers begin at eponymous glaciers of Mount Rainier. The sources of the White River are Winthrop, Emmons, the broad top of Mount Rainier contains three named summits. The highest is called the Columbia Crest, the second highest summit is Point Success,14,158 ft, at the southern edge of the summit plateau, atop the ridge known as Success Cleaver. It has a prominence of about 138 ft, so it is not considered a separate peak. The lowest of the three summits is Liberty Cap,14,112 ft, at the edge, which overlooks Liberty Ridge, the Sunset Amphitheater
31.
Decade Volcanoes
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They are named Decade Volcanoes because the project was initiated as part of the United Nations–sponsored International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, in the 1990s. Hopes that United Nations funding might be available for Decade Volcano projects did not come to fruition, often, scientists and civil defence leaders from developing countries can relate better to each others experiences than they can to the experience of counterparts from industrialized countries. Also, civil defence leaders who have experienced volcanic crises are far more witnesses, in the eyes of local civil defence leaders. Since it was initiated, the Decade Volcano program has achieved a number of successes in predicting volcanic events, one of the most notable was the successful diversion of a lava flow and blanket at Mount Etna in 1992. The flow was threatening the town of Zafferana, and had overwhelmed several barriers placed perpendicular to its flow down a valley. Scientists and civil defence leaders decided to try to dam the flow higher up, the flow subsequently stopped short of Zafferana. The program has significantly increased what is known about the Decade Volcanoes, the eruptive history of Galeras volcano is now much better established than previously, and at Taal Volcano the importance of water in driving its explosive eruptions has come to light. Later, a Decade Volcano conference in the city of Pasto, Colombia, an eruption occurred unexpectedly while they were at the summit, which resulted in the deaths of six scientists and three tourists. Another problem faced by the program has been civil unrest in the vicinity of several volcanoes, more generally, scarce resources for volcano studies have led to programs competing for limited funding. Timeline of volcanism on Earth USGS Decade Volcano page
32.
Global Volcanism Program
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The Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program documents Earths volcanoes and their eruptive history over the past 10,000 years. The GVP reports on current eruptions from around the world as well as maintaining a repository on active volcanoes. In this way, a context for the planets active volcanism is presented. Smithsonian reporting on current volcanic activity dates back to 1968, with the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena, the GVP is housed in the Department of Mineral Sciences, part of the National Museum of Natural History, on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. During the early stages of an eruption, the GVP acts as a clearinghouse of reports, data, the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonians Global Volcanism Program and the United States Geological Surveys Volcano Hazards Program. Notices of volcanic activity posted on the Report website are preliminary, detailed reports on various volcanoes are published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network The GVP also documents the last 10,000 years of Earths volcanism. The historic activity can guide perspectives on future events and on volcanoes showing activity. GVPs volcano and eruption databases constitute a foundation for all statements concerning locations, frequencies. Two editions of Volcanoes of the World, a regional directory, and were published based on the GVP data and interpretations
33.
Smithsonian Institution
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The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York City, Texas, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment, private and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, concession, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855. The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
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