Lava is emerging from a crack south of the Wolf volcano in the Ecuadorian Galapagos archipelago. The images are impressive.
The Wolf volcano, in the Ecuadorian Galapagos archipelago, erupted for the second time in seven years without threatening a protected endemic species of pink iguanas, Ecuadorian authorities and officials said on Friday. The Geophysical Institute of Quito reported that at around 12:20 am (5:20 am GMT) on Friday, “a new eruption was observed on the volcano” 1,707 meters high, expelling a cloud of gas and ash to nearly 3,800 meters above sea level. above sea level. “There is no population near the volcano or in the direction of the ash clouds,” the institute added in a statement.
“An eruption of the Wolf volcano in northern Isabela Island has been reported after seven years of relative calm,” Galapagos National Park (PNG) said in a statement. “It is about a crack in the south of the volcano by which the magma leaves, for the moment, in the same direction, towards the interior of the island”. The previous eruptive activity of the highest volcano in the Galapagos archipelago, a world biosphere reserve for its unique flora and fauna 1,000 kilometers from the coast of Ecuador, occurred in 2015, after 33 years of inactivity. It did not affect the rare fauna of Isabela Island where, in 2009, an endemic species of pink iguanas (Conolophus marthae) was recorded.
The Volcano Wolf in the Galapagos Islands is in eruption process. This video taken from one of our staff at the amazing Coral II expedition yacht. pic.twitter.com/ihKsfQAaQx
– Go Galapagos Ecuador (@go_galapagos) January 7, 2022
“The Galapagos Islands are in constant formation”
An expedition carried out last year identified some 211 specimens of this species considered seriously threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The expedition found that they live exclusively in an area of 25 square kilometers and estimated that “being limited to a single site makes the species more vulnerable”.
But on Friday the PNG announced that eight forest rangers and scientists who were on a mission to the island “confirmed that the life zone of these species is far from the eruption and the impact zone, so that no further measure to protect them is not being considered “. The slopes of the Wolf volcano are also home to yellow iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus), also endemic, and giant tortoises (Chelonoidis becki).
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Isabela, the largest of the Galapagos archipelago, consisting of 19 islands and around 40 islets, is also home to the active volcanoes Darwin, Alcedo, Cerro Azul and Sierra Negra. “The Galapagos Islands are in constant formation,” said Ecuadorian Environment Minister Gustavo Manrique, currently in the archipelago.
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