Can people go inside volcanoes?
Kim
Hallman
Kim,
Yes, people can go inside volcanoes, and some people even live inside
volcanoes! Some scientists and adventurers climb inside volcanic
throats, when the volcanoes are not erupting!
But many volcanoes are often large craters or flat bowls many kilometers in
diameter. And since such large volcanoes often don't erupt for long times,
people choose to live on the crater floor. Probably the most famous town
inside a volcano - that is, on its floor - is Rabaul in Papua New Guinea,
north of Australia. This has been a dangerous place to live, because
twice this century - including in 1994! - eruptions have occurred within
the city limits of Rabaul! Click here to see pictures of
Rabaul.
In the USA, people live in three large volcanoes. In California, the 17
by 32 km wide Long Valley Caldera (a large collapsed volcano) has the
village on Mammoth Lakes on its floor. The New Mexico town of Los Alamos
is on the rim of the 22 km wide
Valles
or Jemez Caldera. And Yellowstone
National Park is in a giant caldera 70 by 40 km in size. None of these
large calderas have had historic eruptions, but each will erupt someday
in the future.
Chuck Wood, University of North Dakota
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