A volcano erupted spewing out lava in the Galapagos Islands, threatening wildlife, officials from the Galapagos National Park said on Saturday, June 16.
Dramatic television images, distributed by Galapagos National Park of the eruption, showed clouds of gases and smoke rising hundreds of feet into the sky around La Cumbre volcano and streams of molten lava pouring into the sea, on its northern slope.
Volcán La Cumbre, en la isla Fernandina, #Galápagos entra en nuevo proceso de erupción. Reportes de guardaparques del Canal Bolívar y operadores turísticos en la zona manifiestan actividad en el flanco norte.
Imagen créditos: @IGM_Ecuador pic.twitter.com/WP4m1ASpmV— Parque Galápagos (@parquegalapagos) June 16, 2018
Officials from the park said in a news release that iguanas, snakes, endemic rats, flightless cormorants, penguins and other marine wildlife could be affected by the eruption as the lava drains into the sea.
The island of Fernandina, where La Cumbre sits, is uninhabited and the volcano—which measures 4,842 feet in height -erupted nine months ago, on September 4, 2017, on its southern slope.
The Geophysical Institute of the National Polytechnic School reported a column of gas rose more than 1.2 – 1.8 miles into the sky with winds blowing towards the north west of the islands. The Institute is monitoring seismic and volcanic activity at the volcano.
The Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador and lie 600 miles west of the South American mainland.
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