Parícutin (Volcano Week 3)
Parícutin is a very young cinder cone volcano in Mexico, and like most cinder cones it will never erupt again – but the story of its creation is a truly fascinating one.
On February 20, 1943, a local farmer by the name of Dionisio Pulido witnessed a fissure appearing in his cornfield, which immediately began to spew forth ash and stones. Astonishingly within just one year the fissure had grown into a 336 m tall volcano!
Over the course of the next 8 years the volcano grew to a final height of 424 m and simultaneously buried 25 km² of the surrounding land, including two entire villages! The top of a nearby church is still visible above the long solidified magma.
Thanks to Maite Elguero.
Wow, a volcano just popped up in his corn field out of nowhere. That must have been a bad day. Having to explain to the neighbors why he suddenly had a volcano growing in his field probably wasn’t easy either.