2024-08-06 20:35:29
Momotombo is an active stratovolcano located on the northern shore of Lake Managa in western Nicaragua. The stereographers who explored the region in 1902 called the volcano a “smoking horror” published by NASA’s Earth Observatory. According to Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Programthe volcano is relatively young, about 4,500 years old, and its summit is 1,270 meters above sea level.
Momotombo has experienced several major eruptions over the past 500 years, including one in 1610. a massive eruption that caused an earthquake that destroyed the nearby Spanish-held city of León. The inhabitants of the city moved and built modern Leon, which is now the second largest city in Nicaragua – and the old city the ruins are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The volcano is currently in the eruption phase, and in 2015 November and 2016 major eruptions occurred in February. Before that, the volcano had not erupted since 1905. However, according to the Global Volcanism Program data, from 2021 the activity of the volcano was not high.
The photo shows the volcano emitting clouds from its summit. This cloud likely contains a mixture of water vapor and toxic gases, such as the foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide that has stained the volcano’s summit yellow over thousands of years. The volcano often emits these clouds before and after an eruption, but in recent years they have disappeared.
The photo shows two dark lava fields at the base of the mountain, left when molten rock from previous eruptions flowed through lava channels on the sides of the volcano, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Momotombo is part of the Central American volcanic belt that stretches along the west coast of the continent from Mexico to Panama and is surrounded by several other volcanoes, including the smaller stratovolcano Momotomboto, an island volcano about 350 m high in the middle of Lake Managa that formed at the same time as Momotombo.
The area around Momotombo is full of small vents – so-called fumaroles – through which volcanic gases and steam rush to the Earth’s surface. As a result, in 1983 much of the surrounding area has been turned into a geothermal power plant that generates electricity from this underground activity, Live Science writes.
2024-08-06 20:35:29