Volcano World Cup – Group L

Be sure to vote for Group L in the poll at the bottom!

England – 18/14/10/9 – Saunders

Landsat false color image of Bristol Island erupting in 2016. The red glow at the summit is the new hot lava. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

Tackling how many volcanoes are part of England is hard (no pun intended … or was there?) If we look at strictly England, then the number is zero. However, if we consider the United Kingdom, then we get the numbers listed above. However, in the World Cup, many of the places that are part of the UK play as their own nations (see: Scotland, Wales, Ireland). Anyway, to make life easier, we will treat England and the UK the same (*ducks as tomatoes are thrown*). If that is the case, England has a lot of volcanoes that are mostly located inconveniently in the southern Atlantic Ocean. The South Sandwich Islands have been especially active, with eruptions at Briston Island (2016), Montagu Island (2007), Nightingale Island (2004), Saunders (2026) and Zavodovski (2016) in the 21^st century alone.

Croatia – 0/0/0/0

The dramatic Biokovo Mountains in Croatia. Sadly, not volcanic. Credit: Christallkeks / Wikimedia Commons.

Croatia isn’t far from volcanoes. This is a common refrain in the European countries that make the World Cup this year. Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Italy – they all have geologically recent volcanism but they couldn’t be bothered to qualify. So, we’re left with Croatia. Luckily, we don’t need to go back too far for volcanism in Croatia. The Pannonian Basin was the site of eruptions as recently as 7 million years ago. That’s the best I can do.

Ghana – 0/0/0/0

Labeled as an “interesting rock formations” of the Kwahu Tafo area in Ghana. Not volcanic. Credit: BEIGE VILLAGE / Wikimedia Commons.

Another western African nation with no volcanoes. Slide a little further south and east you hit Cameroon and Nigeria, both of which have geologically recent volcanism. We’re not so lucky in Ghana. Much like the Ivory Coast, it is likely that Ghana’s last bout with volcanism might have been over two billion years ago.

Panamá – 4/1/0/0

A view from the summit of Barú in Panamá. Credit: Dennis Binzen / Flickr.

The Panamian isthmus contains some of the last vestiges of Central American volcanism. Four volcanoes sit in the small country, all of which are north of the Panamá Canal. Only Barú, near the border with Costa Rica, is thought to have erupted in the Holocene with eight eruptions over the past ~11,000 years. The most recent was in 1550. All the other identified volcanoes have not erupted that we know of during the Holocene. Of course, a lack of historical records and the rapid weathering in Panamá’s climate work against our ability to find any other volcanoes or eruption deposits.

ERUPTIONS