Volcano Club: Decade Volcanoes - Part One, with added quiz!

The Decade Volcanoes are 16 volcanoes that are carefully monitored due to their potential for destructive eruptions especially in light of the closeness to civilisation. I have written about them before; a few have been volcano of the week, think I also did a feature in the zine but I can't remember all the crap I put in there. The volcanoes are Avachinsky- Koryaksky, Colima, Mount Etna, Galeras, Mauna Loa, Mount Merapi, Mount Nyiragongo, Mount Rainier, Sakurajima, Santa Maria, Santorini, Taal, Teide, Ulawun, Mount Unzen and Vesuvius. Here is a map, you will have to coordinate which is which from the list below alternatively don't bother. I do think it's interesting that the volcanoes are so well spread out which I suppose reflects the fact that they also have to be of significant menace to humanity. This is probably why Mount Erebus isn't included, that's funny cos it's in Antarctica and I've just remembered that it was on Frozen Planet, they filmed from inside it but I can't really remember as I fell asleep so it could have all been a dream. Now back to the decade volcanoes, pay attention there will be a quiz at the end.

1. Avachinsy- Koryaksky, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, These are actually two volcanoes in Siberia which has the highest concentration of volcanoes of anywhere in the world, I always go on about how amazing I think that is so I will resist the temptation to do so now. But they are very pretty volcanoes and erupt quite a lot, an eruption was recorded by John Ledyard on Captain Cooks last voyage.

2. Colima, Jalisco and Colima, Mexico. It's quite neat Guadalajara and has a set of of parasitic domes on the northeast flank, but I wonder how they can be parasitic because surely they are still part of the volcano I'm not sure if geological features can or should be classed as separate entities but I'm sure it is actually an accepted term (it was on wikipedia after all). It has erupted this year and eruptions often result in the evacuation of homes.

3. Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy. I'm sure everyone knows about Etna you're not idiots.

4. Galeras, Colombia. It's located near Pasto and is Colombia's most active volcano. In 1993 during a volcano conference in Pasto 6 scientists and 3 tourists were killed by an eruption following after an impromptu expedition. Luckily and partly due to this tragedy our skills at predicting eruptions are now much better, although Katla (that Icelandic one) still hasn't erupted or I totally missed it.

5. Mauna Loa, Hawaii, USA. It's the worlds biggest volcano, which if that's not exciting I don't know what is, Hawaii's big island is entirely made up of volcanoes. An ascent of Mauna Loa was attempted by John Ledyard and Captain Cook (they got around) on his third voyage, which was the same one where he got killed by Hawaiians; they had a fight over the harvest festival, I think.

6. Mount Merapi, Java, Indonesia. Merapi had a fairly large eruption (VEI = 4), the death toll was 353, which puts it as the centuries worst eruption, the casualties included the spiritual gatekeeper of the volcano.

7. Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nyiragongo is on the border with Rwanda and it is currently erupting which has led to the formation of a great lava lake.

8. Mount Rainier, Washington, USA. As it is an icy volcano its eruption would lead to lahars and flooding of the Puyallup River valley however it has not erupted for over 100 years. It has the worlds largest volcanic glacier cave network with 2 miles of tunnels if you want to have a look the easiest ascent is by Disappointment Cleaver.

I have decided that this post is long enough already and even I'm getting bored so I will continue with the rest of the decade volcanoes tomorrow (my definition of tomorrow is loose) but I will still do the quiz otherwise it's just not fair. What you have to do is match the pictures of the volcanoes to the volcano, I'll put the answers in the comments (so it looks like someone has commented and read this).