Volcanos, features and articles | Educational Science

May 23, 2021

Congo's Mount Nyiragongo volcano blows its top, sending thousands fleeing across border

The Congo's Mount Nyiragongo erupted Saturday night (May 22), sending thousands of people fleeing across the border into Rwanda and filling the skies with orange-red smoke. By Sunday morning, the lava flow had slowed, stopping just short of the area's major transit hub Goma, and so far no directly related...

Jun 11, 2021

Summer School with Live Science: Lemon volcanoes

This Friday (June 11), we will explore the eruptive realm of acid-base chemistry in our new kids video series: Summer School with Live Science. In this week's installment, Live Science producer, Diana Whitcroft, will demonstrate the reaction between sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and citric acid (lemon juice, in this case)....

Jul 6, 2021

Rare mud volcano explodes into towering inferno in Caspian Sea

A towering inferno, hundreds of feet tall, burned above the Caspain Sea on Sunday (July 4) after a massive explosion in Azerbaijan's oil and gas fields. The culprit? A mud volcano, authorities now say. The blast occurred around 9:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET) around 6 miles (10 kilometers)...

Jul 23, 2021

'Eye of Sauron' volcano and other deep-sea structures discovered in underwater 'Mordor'

Researchers exploring the Indian Ocean have discovered the remains of a collapsed underwater volcano with an uncanny resemblance to the all-seeing Eye of Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien's famous fantasy series The Lord of the Rings, as well as two other seafloor structures named after places in Tolkien's Middle-earth. The eye...

Aug 17, 2021

Three volcanoes erupt at the same time in Alaska, in rare phenomena

Three volcanoes on Alaska's Aleutian islands are erupting simultaneously, but are currently not a threat to local communities, according to recent news reports. This triple whammy is not common, but it's not unheard of, according to NBC News. Alaska has a lot of volcanoes, and we typically see maybe one...

Aug 27, 2021

Earthquake swarm rocks the ground at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano

Kilauea volcano gave scientists and local Hawaiians a scare this week, when a swarm of more than 140 earthquakes in just 12 hours prompted authorities to raise the alarm over a possible imminent eruption. But now, Kilauea's brief rumble is over; the volcano did not erupt and is barely registering...

Sep 20, 2021

La Palma volcano spews lava hundreds of feet in the air, but don't expect a 'mega-tsunami'

A volcano on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma sent lava fountains shooting hundreds of feet into the air on Sunday (Sept. 19), forcing thousands of people to evacuate the area. The volcano, called La Cumbre Vieja or The Old Summit, last erupted in October 1971, when lava continually...

Sep 21, 2021

Giant pyramid built by the Maya was made from rock spewed by a volcano

About 1,500 years ago, Maya builders crafted a massive pyramid out of rock that had been ejected by a volcano, in an eruption that was so powerful it chilled the planet, scientists recently discovered. Around A.D. 539, in what is now San Andrés, El Salvador, the Ilopango caldera erupted in...

Sep 24, 2021

La Palma volcano eruption's infernal beauty visible from space (Photos)

New astronaut and satellite images of an active volcano on the island of La Palma reveal the frightening beauty of the eruption, as well as its dangerous proximity to humans. Lava began gushing out of the Cumbre Vieja crater on the island, which is located off the coast of northwestern...

Sep 29, 2021

Bright lava flows, smoke pour from La Palma volcano eruption in new Landsat photos

New satellite images of an active volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma capture vivid streams of lava pouring down the coastal mountain range and nearing the Atlantic Ocean. The eruption began on Sept. 19 from fissures on the western flanks of the Cumbre Vieja crater on La Palma,...

Sep 30, 2021

Canary islanders threatened by toxic gases from lava pouring into the sea

More than a week after its volcano erupted in a spectacular display of molten lava, islanders on La Palma are threatened by a new hazard — the toxic gases and particles created as the volcanic flow spills into the sea. Officials have told residents on the Spanish island — one...

Sep 30, 2021

Lava eruption at Kilauea spews 'Pele's hair' volcanic glass into Hawaii's skies

Kilauea volcano is erupting, sending lava and thread-like pieces of volcanic glass, known as Pele's hair, into Hawaii's skies, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Weather Service. The eruption began at about 3:20 p.m. local Hawaii time Wednesday (Sept. 29), when the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory...

Oct 7, 2021

Striking bull's-eye-shaped clouds form above erupting La Palma volcano

New satellite images have revealed a stunning pattern of concentric cloud rings, resembling a bull's-eye, that was formed by the continued eruption of the volcano on La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands. The La Cumbre Vieja volcano, meaning The Old Summit in Spanish, has been erupting since Sept. 19 for...

Oct 20, 2021

World's biggest underwater eruption birthed skyscraper-size volcano

In 2018, the largest active underwater eruption ever recorded birthed a giant baby: a skyscraper-size underwater volcano, a new study finds. Scientists discovered the 2,690-foot-tall (820 meters) volcano in the western Indian Ocean, off Madagascar, following a puzzling spate of earthquakes that struck near what is normally a seismically quiet...

Dec 29, 2021

10 times volcanoes blew our minds in 2021

Volcanoes are one of the most extreme examples of Earth's raw power, eliciting fear and wonder at the same time. Every year, we are surprised by the ferocity, uniqueness and unpredictability of volcanoes, and 2021 was no different. Here are 10 times volcanoes blew our minds in 2021. Stunning Etna...