Volcano World Cup – Group K

Remember to cast your vote for Group K at the bottom of this post!

Portugal – 13/13/5/1

Pico on Pico Island in the Azores. It saw its last eruption in 1720. Credit: David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons.

All of the volcanoes of Portugal are not in Europe. Instead, much like many European nations, they lie on distant islands colonized centuries ago. For Portugal, most of those volcanoes are in the Azores, a chain of islands linked to a hotspot in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The lone exception is Madeira in the eponymous archipelago. Still, it is the Azores that see the most activity, with eruptions in 1564, 1630, 1720, 1880, 1902, 1911, 1950, 1958 and 2000 just to name a few. The 2000 eruption on Terceira was a small submarine eruption but its previous eruption in 1867 was a VEI 3.

Democratic Republic of the Congo – 6/4/3/2 – Nyiragongo, Nyamulagira

The roiling surface of the lava lake at Nyiragongo. Credit: Cai Tjeenk Willink / Wikimedia Commons.

What the Democratic Republic of the Congo lacks in numbers it gains in activity. The neighboring monsters of Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira are homes to nearly-permanent lava lakes. According to the Global Volcanism Program, the eruption at Nyamulagira has been going since 2018 while Nyiragongo has been active even longer, since 2002. Although these volcanoes tend to erupt lava flows, Nyiragongo still had a deadly eruption in that year due to the low viscosity of the lava and their proximity to Goma. Beyond these two, Mugogo had a small eruption in 1957.

Uzbekistan – 0/0/0/0

Landsat view of the Muruntau gold mine in Uzbekistan. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

Uzbekistan is home to the largest gold mine on Earth. This is thanks to the abundant volcanism that occurred in what is now Uzbekistan. Of course, this volcanic activity happened during the Paleozoic (539 to 252 million years ago), so you can be forgiven for not knowing the volcanic legacy of this central Asian country.

Colombia – 22/14/8/4 – Puracé, Nevado del Ruiz

Nevado del Tolima in the foreground and Nevado del Ruiz in the background with a steam-and-ash plume. Credit: Pablo Andrés Ortega Chávez / Wikimedia Commons.

This is where I have trouble being partial. Like any sports commentator, you don’t want them to be a homer for certain teams. Yet, I can’t speak with cold indifference about volcanoes in Colombia. My spent much time in my youth near one (Nevado del Ruiz) and hiked on another (Tolima). The country has seen 7 eruptions since 1900 including a VEI 4 from Doña Juana. Colombia is a story of volcanic disasters like the 1985 lahar from Ruiz or the deaths of 6 volcanologists and 3 tourists at Galeras in 1993. From those tragedies one of the best volcano monitoring agencies in the world was created.

ERUPTIONS