what is the most unknown place in the world

Standing as the third tallest volcano and most voluminous volcano on the planet after Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in the Hawaiian Islands, Mount Teide is also one of the oldest active volcanoes in the world, clocking in at 12 million years old. Saint Helens, and local geologists are beginning to believe that another eruption could come soon. The eruption in 1104 is thought to have been comparable to the 1980 eruption of Mt. Hekla’s strangeness does not end there, however, as it seems to behave like a typical shield volcano, but also has characteristics that are only really found in stratovolcanos. Hekla is more than a bit unusual since most eruptions aren’t accompanied by seismic activity. Oh, and it also has a bad habit of launching 12-ton lava bombs into the surrounding region, which have been discovered by geologists looking to unlock the secrets of the volcano.

Hekla stands at 1,491 meters its frequent volcanic activity (20 times in the last 1,000 years) has caused fluorine rich deposits to poison the environment to sheep and other indigenous animals. It was even thought at one time that birds flying near the volcano were actually lost souls, and witches were believed to have gathered on the volcano on Easter. Hekla Volcanoįollowing a nasty eruption in 1104, Mount Hekla became infamously regarded by Icelanders as the Gateway to Hell. The fact that the volcano is still active is a serious curiosity for geologists, as it’s not really known how a volcano that saw its birth during the breakup of the North American and South American continental plates could still be so active, making it especially unusual. Travelers who find themselves traversing its trails will find themselves subjected to cold temperatures and the occasional dusting of snow.Īlthough Mount Cameroon doesn’t look too strange from a distance, it’s absolutely ancient (maybe even the oldest active volcano on Earth) dating all the way back to 30 million years ago. Tropical rainforests border its barren summit. Standing at 4,040 meters above western Cameroon, this volcano is one of the largest that the African continent has to offer. While it does rest at the edge of the San Andreas fault, this still doesn’t really account for the volcano’s formation. It’s also thought to be at the pre-caldera stage in its evolution, which would make it similar to the supervolcano in Long Valley which rests to the east of Clear Lake.Īs if that weren’t enough, the volcano doesn’t sit on a subduction or rift zone, and there isn’t a hotspot in sight beneath the surface. In fact, most of the potential explanations for this volcanic field’s formation are pretty speculative in nature.Ĭlear Lake Volcano rests pretty far west of the active volcanoes in the Cascades, and it’s absolutely massive, with a magma chamber that is thought to be as large as 1,400 cubic kilometers. One theory is that the volcanic field is caused by a gap in the slab of the boundary between North America and the plate off the west coast, but it’s pretty much guesswork on the part of scientists. Located 90 miles north of San Francisco, California, Clear Lake Volcano is particularly odd, since it’s still not quite understood how it could have formed.

From super fertile cold lava flows, unusual geological activity, to mysterious volcanoes formed in the middle of deserts, here are 10 of the world’s most unusual volcanoes. Most of the volcanoes on our stunningly unique planet are created thanks to activity near the boundaries of these plates, though many of them do form on or near faults as well.īut there are others that defy conventional understanding for how volcanoes should behave, sometimes exhibiting features of shield and stratovolcanoes at once. Plate tectonics defines our world, forging and shaping the crust of the Earth as the continental plates smash into, grind, and subduct each other.

What is the most unknown place in the world