Wolf Volcano ( es, Volcán Wolf, italic=no), also known as Mount Whiton, is the highest peak in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

. It is situated on Isabela Island and reaches . It is a

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

with a characteristic upturned soup bowl shape. The volcano was named after

Theodor Wolf Franz Theodor Wolf (February 13, 1841 - June 22, 1924) was a German naturalist who studied the Galápagos Islands during the late nineteenth century. Wolf Island (Wenman Island) is named after him. The peak Volcán Wolf on Isabela Island is a ...

, a German geologist who studied the Galápagos Islands in the 19th century.

Wolf Island Wolf Island (Spanish: ''Isla Wolf'') or Wenman Island is a small island in the Galápagos Islands and was named after the German geologist Theodor Wolf, who also has the volcano Wolf on Isabela Island named after him. It has an area of and a m ...

in the north of the Galápagos is also named after the geologist. Wolf Volcano's height makes it an

ultra prominent peak An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of or more; it is also called a P1500. The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or fro ...

(a peak with a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of over ).

Geology

In a process similar to the formation of the Hawaiian islands, the Galapagos (along with associated hotspot) appear to be created from a

mantle plume A mantle plume is a proposed mechanism of convection within the Earth's mantle, hypothesized to explain anomalous volcanism. Because the plume head partially melts on reaching shallow depths, a plume is often invoked as the cause of volcanic hot ...

. This plume stays in place while the

Nazca Plate The Nazca Plate or Nasca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru–Chile Trench, of the Na ...

moves above it; the relative movement of this plate is 0.46 degrees per million years. (deg/m.y. figure is on page 1110) The volcano itself is estimated to be less than half a million years old; the oceanic plate beneath it is theorized to be around 10 million years old. Wolf is situated at the northern end of Isabela Island in the Galapagos, and sits on the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

, one of six coalescing volcanoes that make up this island (the others being

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, Darwin,

Alcedo ''Alcedo'' is a genus of birds in the kingfisher subfamily Alcedininae. The genus was introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The type species is the common kingfisher (''Alcedo ispida'', now ''Alcedo ...

Sierra Negra Sierra Negra (also, and perhaps more properly, Cerro La Negra) is an extinct volcano located in the Mexican state of Puebla, close to the border with Veracruz. At officially above sea level, it is the fifth-highest peak in Mexico. Sierra Ne ...

, and Cerro Azul). Along with the

Fernandina Island Fernandina Island (Spanish: ''Isla Fernandina'', named after King Ferdinand of Spain, the sponsor of Christopher Columbus) (formerly known in English as Narborough Island, after John Narborough) is the third largest, and youngest, island of the ...

volcano, the western Galapagos volcanoes have similar structures that differ from the volcanoes in the eastern part of the archipelago. The western volcanoes are higher and have larger

calderas A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

than those to the east, they are also shaped like an upturned soup bowl. Wolf reaches a height of over ; the caldera is and has a depth of . Only Cerro Azul has a caldera of similar depth in the Galapagos. Following the last eruption, there was collapse in the caldera, causing its stepped appearance. Wolf has very steep slopes reaching 35 degrees in places, making access difficult. The first historical eruption in the Galapagos was recorded for this volcano in 1797; a further eleven eruptions have been recorded since then, the last being in Early January 2022. Eruptions prior to 1797 have been dated from analysis of surface exposures. The newest lavas are on the eastern and southern sides as well as within the caldera. Lava flows from Wolf are unusual for a mid-ocean island and also differ from the two volcanoes next to it, Ecuador and Darwin, and other volcanoes closer to the centre of the plume. The lavas from Wolf are similar to those erupted from the Galapagos Spreading Center, a mid-ocean ridge over away, which may be due to interaction between the plume, which is centred on Fernandina, and the

upper mantle The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle at . Temperatures range from appro ...

Wildlife

As is common in the Galapagos, Wolf Volcano has unique fauna, differing from not only the other islands in the group but also its neighbouring volcanoes on the same island. It has its own

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of Galapagos tortoise, '' Chelonoidis nigra becki'' which has a saddleback shell and is found on the northern and western slopes of the volcano, away from the more recent lava flows where there is denser vegetation. However, tortoise subspecies from many different Galapagos islands have been abandoned at Wolf Volcano by ships which at one time collected the tortoise as a food source. '' C. n. becki'' is threatened due to population pressures such as predation by feral cats. During a 2008 survey of over 1600 specimens on Wolf Volcano, all morphologies of tortoise were found, including two that in shape are similar to

Lonesome George Lonesome George ( es, Solitario George or , 1910 – June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger abingdonii'') and the last known individual of the subspecies. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creat ...

. DNA studies of these specimens are currently being undertaken. In 2009, a new species of land iguana, the

pink land iguana ''Conolophus marthae'', the Galápagos pink land iguana, is a species of lizard of the family Iguanidae. This critically endangered iguana is native only to the Wolf Volcano in northern Isabela Island (Ecuador), Isabela Island of the Galápagos I ...

, was identified on the slopes of Wolf Volcano. The pink land iguana had been discovered by park rangers in 1986 and studied by scientists since 2000, and identified as a separate species in 2009. Scientists are unsure where the species developed, as it is believed to have separated from the other land iguana of Galapagos prior to the formation of Wolf volcano or Isabela Island.

Ecology

The natural habitat is under threat from the introduction of goats. The Galapagos National Park has instituted Project Isabela to eradicate feral goats from around Wolf.

Eruptions

2015 eruption Inactive for 33 years, the Wolf volcano erupted 25 May 2015. The volcano is not located near a populated area. The lava flowed down the volcano's east and southeast sides, so the

inhabiting the north and west sides were not endangered. 2022 eruption On 7 January 2022, Ecuador's Geophysical Institute announced that shortly before midnight (local time) on Wednesday, 5 January 2022, Wolf volcano sent a cloud of ashen lava 3,793 meters (12,444 feet) into the sky.

References

External links

Wolf Volcano
at NASA

Earth Observatory NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing outlet for NASA which was created in 1999. It is the principal source of satellite imagery and other scientific information pertaining to the climate and the environment which are being provided by N ...