Day 41 – Surprise! Here’s a Volcano!

I’m jumping back to the seven natural wonders list today. I’m going to talk about Paricutin. Paricutin is a cinder cone volcano located in Michoacán, Mexico, about 200 miles west of Mexico City. A cinder cone volcano is a volcano formed by volcanic debris accumulating around a volcanic vent. Paricutin was named one of the natural wonders of the world because mankind witnessed its birth. It was a fast-growing volcano, reaching three-quarters of its size within its first year! In fact, the volcano reached five stories within a week! Can you imagine – one week, there’s nothing there, and the next week there’s this five story tall volcano thanks to the volcanic debris it has spewed out! At the time Paricutin was named one of the seven natural wonders of the world, it was an active volcano. Today, however, it is dormant, with its last eruption occurring in 1952. (http://sevennaturalwonders.org/the-original/paricutin/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C3%ADcutin)

Those who want to see Paricutin can do so by taking a 12 mile round trip hike to the top of the volcano. The journey can also be made by horseback. The trail to the top takes you past lava fields and buried village homes. I’m not sure how I feel about hiking a volcano that erupted in 1952… it seems like that hasn’t been that long and I’d be worried about it erupting again. This probably shows my complete ignorance about volcanoes, however, since I would imagine that people who actually know about these things can tell if there is significant danger of the volcano erupting soon. In fact, Paricutin is believed to be a monogenetic volcano, which means that once it has finished its initial eruption it never erupts again. I think I would hike the trail if I was there… I’d just be a teensy bit nervous the whole time, haha!

What do you think? Would you climb Paricutin?

Paricutin Erupting in 1948

 Paricutin today. 

Xoxo,

Diana