Wolf Volcano (), also known as Mount Whiton, is the highest peak in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

. 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 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 viscous lava ...

with a characteristic upturned soup bowl shape. The volcano was named after Theodor Wolf, a German geologist who studied the Galápagos Islands in the 19th century. Wolf Island 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 or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

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 ho ...

. 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 list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru– ...

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 the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

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

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, Darwin, Alcedo, Sierra Negra, and Cerro Azul). Along with the Fernandina Island 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 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 (geology), crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle (Earth), lower man ...

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 Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

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.

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

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