"The All-Seeing Eye," an irregularity in pahoehoe.Location: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18750 Comments: The century-old lava flow at Sullivan Bay is covered with pristine, textbook quality pahoehoe everywhere you look. |
A bubble in flowing lavaLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18731 Comments: |
Pahoehoe with embedded cindersLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18749 Comments: Which came first, the cinders or the lava? In this case, the lava was still soft when the cinders landed. |
Driblet coneLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18730 Comments: What happens when a lava flow covers moist ground? The water vaporizes and bubbles up, forming driblet cones (aka hornitos). Sort of like blowing through your straw into a slurpee. |
"Intestinal" pahoehoeLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18741 Comments: Yeah. You can see why they call it this. Is there some special process that causes this formation? I doubt it. Is there also "pancreatic pahoehoe," "pulmonary pahoehoe," etc.? I doubt it. Probably just an ad hoc name for a unique occurrance. |
Cinder cone kipukaLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18745 Comments: "Kipuka" is a Hawaiian word for an island in a lava flow. Ecologically, these often function like real islands, isolating their biota in a sea of sterile basalt. |
Textbook pahoehoeLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18727 Comments: "Pahoehoe is Hawaiian for "ropy lava." At Sullivan Bay, you could point in any direction to see good examples. |
Pahoehoe with two rows of parallel bubblesLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18743 Comments: A driblet cone forms in places where the lava is still liquid but not moving. Here a moving lava flow passed over two sources of gas, leaving two parallel rows of bubbles. |
A second all-seeing eye and cinders on pahoehoeLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18742 Comments: Saw several of these eyeballs. Not sure what process forms them. Spooky, though. |
Sullivan Bay lava flow from Bartolomé summit.Location: Summit, Bartolomé, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2004 Merckslides catalogue number: 16(06)-18714 Comments: Even though I took this from Bartolomé I include it here because it shows the extent of the Sullivan Bay flow. The low peak at left is the source of the lava. |
Recent landslide scar and deposit in kikapuLocation: Sullivan Bay, Santiago, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Year: 2008 Merckdigitals catalogue number: 06-51467 Comments: |