Volcan Wolf Update
Volcán Wolf reduces its activity – edited and translated from Galapagos National Park Newsletter 27 May 2015.
During the second day of the eruption of this giant, a visual survey indicates that there has been a decrease in the amount of lava being produced.
An over-flight undertaken yesterday afternoon in a navy plane, with people from the Parks service, Ministry for the Environment, National Risk Management agency, Council for the governance of the Galapagos special regime, and the regional agency for aquatic spaces and coastguard, allowed the environmental authority to determine that there are no lava flows near the sea, and therefore that the activity has greatly reduced.
In addition, the evaluation confirmed that the eruption is focused on the south-east flank of the volcano, more than 6 km from the habitat of pink iguanas Conolophus marthae, yellow iguanas Conolophus subcristatus and from a population of giant tortoises of the species Chelonoidis becky, and the experts therefore presume that there will be no significant effect on endemic fauna.
Reports from guides working in the area have also noted the significant reduction in activity, compared to the first day
Nevertheless, the parks authority does not discount the possibility of further lava flows into the caldera or through underground tunnels. Given that, and that significant amounts of ash and vapour can be seen around the volcano to the west, monitoring will be continued.
Volcán Wolf, is the highest volcano in the archipelago, at 1707m asl. It is one of 5 volcanoes on Isabela, alongside Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul, Alcedo and Darwin. Isabela and Fernandina islands are considered the most recently emerged from the depths of the seas, between 60 and 300 thousand years ago – San Cristóbal and Española are much older, possibly emerging between 2.8 and 5.6 million years ago.