The cautionary tale of volcanoes
Magma Opus Frankenstein (on a 1977 stamp of Great Britain) emerged from the imagination and pen of Mary Shelley, on a dare with husband Percy and Lord Byron, to write the best horror story.
It was altogether a strange and eerie world into which he was born; the sky was blood red, yellow and dark. It really was strange that year — a year without summer, as crops failed and pestilence erupted in East Bengal. The year was 1815.
Our character evoked much more pathos than the Boris Karloff rendition (USA 1997, 2003) and is really worth the read. This was sudden climate change caused by the eruption of Tambora (bicentennial marked on Indonesia stamp of 2015). It was 10 times bigger than the better known 1883 Krakatoa eruption (Indonesia 1983). Twelve cubic miles of rock and ash were hurtled into the atmosphere. The sky was like it was here in B.C. last summer.
Volcanoes — we may love them — to live on their fertile flanks, to climb them, to photograph them. But theirs is a cautionary tale. Let’s explore.
Mount Vesuvius (Italy 1977) buried Pompeii in AD 79 (Ajman 1972) with multiple layers of pyroclastic flow “freezing” the town in time. The famous “frozen figures” are somewhat an artificial construct but the snapshot of Roman life is amazing. Mount Etna in Sicily (Italy 1977) I know best as a crossword answer. And Mount Kilimanjaro (Kenya/Uganda/ Tanganyika 1953) we know for the fundraising climbers. It was really cool, though, to drive past it. The iconic Mount Fuji (Japan1999) with the bullet train in the foreground is a “bucket list” item and there is a stamp club buddy there now — even better. The Pacific Rim of Fire has provided us with lots of holiday destinations.
With aquamarine water, white or black sand — Hawaii beckons to us.
The 1984 UN World Heritage stamps shows a red-hot lava flow. A drive up to the Haleakela crater (USA 2016) is amazing and there is the iconic volcanic Diamond Head (Hawaii 1894). James Michener’s “Hawaii” opens with a great saga of its volcanic past. The Galapagos Islands are wholly volcanic. The landscape is primordial and the life there as amazing as Darwin described. Ecuador’s 1935 stamp series is a great depiction. The fact that there is farming there was a big surprise to me. B.C. has lots of volcanoes. Photographer Chris Harris’ book is a fabulous read. From Mount Garibaldi to the Stikine in B.C. to the Anahim Belt, there is a lot to explore. Closer is Dragon’s Tongue in Wells Gray Park that makes a great mini hike. Some will prefer B.C.'s hot springs.
Recent volcanic activity - the eruption of Mount St. Helens (Gambia 2016) left my car in Calgary covered in ash in May 1981, the explosion 1200 km distant.
You will remember the amazing (and flight disrupting) eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano (Iceland 2010, the stamp made from volcanic ash.) How to pronounce that name?
But wait! There is something almost beyond imagination — Yellowstone Park (USA 2009) gives us Old Faithful (USA 1972) and the Grand Prismatic Spring (USA 2012). The Yellowstone caldera is huge at 70x45 km.
The earth’s crust has been moving over this thin spot (us stampers hate thins), leaving scars on the landscape. The place is really worth a visit — it is an amazing spot. There is truly a monster that lurks beneath.