Volcano Threatens Galapagos Wildlife

(CBS/AP)  Officials at the Galapagos National Park said on Sunday that a volcanic eruption on Fernandina island could pose a threat to the unique wildlife of the area.

The Galapagos National Park said La Cumbre volcano began spewing lava, gas and smoke and steam on uninhabited Fernandina Island on Saturday after four years of inactivity.

Following a flight over the island, Galapagos National Park official Oscar Carvajal said, "We saw a crack 200 meters long from which lava is coming out."

Carvajal said rivers of lava were also sighted moving to other points of the island.

The park said in a statement that the eruption is not a threat to people living on nearby Isabela Island, but lava flowing to the sea is likely to affect marine and terrestrial iguanas and other fauna.

A park official told AP Television that it was hoped the heat from the eruption would alert the maritime iguanas and the birds and instinct would force them to leave.

There are around 700,000 maritime iguanas at Galapagos National Park, a colony of 300 live in Fernandina island.

The Galapagos are home to unique animal and plant species that became the basis for much of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

(AP Photo/Galapagos National Park)

The remote island chain owes its existence to volcanic activity and most of the islands are relatively young in geological terms.

Scientists say Fernandina, with 250 square miles, is the island with the most volcanic activity in the archipelago but other islands have also seen eruptions in recent decades.

La Cumbre, 4,842 feet, last erupted in May 2005.

[superdem1]

You people are insane. We have volcanoes because we live on a planet with a molten interior, the land masses composing our crust float on this interior, which breaks through from time to time to spew out molten lava. There are similar volcanoes on other planets where, so far as we know, no creatures live. Is God angry at anybody out there in space ? It is very childish to suppose geological events on earth are the result of some extraterrestrial super being. An island that FORMED from a volcano is very likely to have subsequent eruptions. There's nothing magical about it. C'mon, children, start watching National Geographic and GROW UP.

[ubrew12]

"And God hath sent a mighty Volvano to smote the life on Galapagos, preventing the vile diversity that begate the evil of evolutionary thought in Darwins tortured minde!"

Hey God!! You're 180 years too late...

(mumbling: no sense of time, that one.
Did ya ever hear him talk about creation? Seven days, indeed....)

[rf35]

Someone call Al Gore! This volcano is going to contribute to global warming!! Maybe if we tax it, it'll go away. These iguanas better be ready to pony up some cash for carbon credits.

Maybe Mrs_Neves is right...God is trying to hide evidence of evolution. After all, this was where Darwin got the idea of natural selection. Time to punish these Godless beasts for daring to evolve!

[displeased]

You people are funny!

[zwooten727]

mrs.nevea, have seen you on other threads. you are an irrational lunatic. no one really cares about you carrying a sandwich board around touting the end of the world. sheesh !

[ddaryl1]

well a volcanic eruption is a natural occurence so if a natural occurence is the cause of extinction it is out of our hands.