Volcano Display

Before taking the Eurostar back to Paris, we had another good visit to the Museum of Natural History. Highlight was the Volcanoes and Earthquakes Gallery, a new permanent installation which is absolutely superb!

It includes this display of the locations currently active volcanoes; it covers the whole world, but given my love of the Galapagos Islands I'm presenting only this section, which extends from them to Central America. The Galapagos are in the lower left, with the two red triangles indicating the western islands, which have experienced three eruptions in the past decade.

The Galapagos Islands have been formed entirely by volcanic action. They are over a so-called hot spot, where magma rises periodically to the surface of the earth, resulting in eruptions. The hot spot is stationary under the tectonic plate which carries the islands, moving gradually eastward. You can see the bumps extending to the east of the triangles; they represent volcanoes which are no longer active and which eventually have sunk beneath the ocean (the gentler bumps furthest east). The Hawaiian islands have been formed in similar fashion.

My third and last trip to the Galapagos was in July 2010, for two weeks (beginning here, if you are curious). Or you can go to my tagged Galapagos series and work from there.