Wolf (Ecuador)

Status Normal Eruption 2015 1710m
Shield (Rift zone / Oceanic crust (< 15 km))

Wolf, the highest volcano of the Galápagos Islands, straddles the equator at the north end of the archipelago's largest island, Isabela. The 1710-m-high edifice has steeper slopes than most other Isabela volcanoes, reaching angles up to 35 degrees. A 6 x 7 km caldera, at 700 m one of the deepest of the Galápagos Islands, is located at the summit. A prominent bench on the west side of the caldera rises 450 above the caldera floor, much of which is covered by a lava flow erupted in 1982. Radial fissures concentrated along diffuse rift zones extend down the north, NW, and SE flanks, and submarine vents lie beyond the north and NW fissures. Similar unvegetated flows originating from a circumferential chain of spatter and scoria cones on the eastern caldera rim drape the forested flanks to the sea. The proportion of aa lava flows at Volcán Wolf exceeds that of other Galápagos volcanoes. An eruption in in 1797 was the first documented historical eruption in the Galápagos Islands.

Wolf, the highest volcano of the Galápagos Islands, straddles the equator at the north end of the archipelago's largest island, Isabela. Volcán Wolf shield volcano has steeper slopes than most other Isabela volcanoes. A 5.5 x 7 km caldera, 600 m deep, is located at the volcano's summit. The broad caldera floor is largely covered by fresh, unvegetated lava flows. Prominent unvegetated lava flows drape forested eastern flanks of the volcano to the sea. Wolf's 1797 eruption was the first documented in the Galápagos Islands.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1978 (Smithsonian Institution).

Last updated 2019-12-02 07:00:02