A VOLCANO IN A LAKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16895, 21 November 1922, Page 6

A VOLCANO IN A LAKE.

j 1 A grand and novel geological effect, j the sudden outburst of a volcano :n j the midst of a tranquil lake, took [ place some years ago at Ilopango, *n i the Republican State ol San Salvador, . Central America. Submarine volcanoes are by no means rare, but the J sudden upstart of volcanic fires from j the quiet bosom of an inland lake i* ! , an unusual occurrence. The event j ‘ was preceded by three shocks of earth- | quake, not sufficiently violent to damage the houses of the district, i ? They were most severe in the environs j * of Lake Ilopango. near the town of j San Salvador, and three volcanic K vents belching great volumes of steam, sulphurous gases, dust, and stones | high into the air, suddenly arose in the middle of the lake. After a % time, the three vents merged into g one, and the showers of fiery cinders built up a small island round tbe t crater. Attempts were made to reach the I' 3 islet, but owing to the suffocating j f vapours, and the boiling waters of the | lake surrounding its heated shores, j y they were all frustrated. The dead j bod’-es of fish and other aquatic deni- | «ens were later found floating about g i\r a parboiled condition on the surface of the reeking waters. _ 1 t Curiously enough, there is a trads | tion among the Spaniards on the j j banks of the lake that when the j R waters rise above their usual level, the | earth (make may lie expected, and it is j s the custom to help the discharging ; p of the lake by means of artificial v channels. h On the occasion in question these aids would seem to have been in- v sufficient, and the overlying water evi- t dently forced its way down to '•the underground fires. The sudden evolu- c tion of steam thus produced would, thus account for the earthquakes and eruption. Like other lakes in the same district, Ilopango probably occu- g pies the crater of an extinct volcto.no, p or rather a volcano which has been p deemed extinct. For a hundred years q previously it had been quiescent, yet 1; events showed that this quiescence a was deceptive. Perhaps also the ex- h plosion relieved the slumbering dangers of the situation, and quenched t the residual fires.