Volcanoes aren’t just the cause of incredibly inconvenient flight cancellations. They are also amazing, awe-inspiring forces of nature (and the only thing about geology that is actually interesting).
Most of us have never seen the awesome force of an erupting volcano up close (because most of us have this weird, irrational fear of lava) but there are a few intrepid travelers who take on the all the risk to get up close and personal with exploding mountains of magma and film them for our viewing pleasure.
Early July was apparently a particularly active week for Batu Taru in Flores. Volcano enthusiast Geoff Mackley was there to capture the above video of the ash and magma getting spewed into the air to terrifying and wondrous effect. (If somebody had told us they were deleted scenes from Mordor in Lord of the Rings, we’d believe them).
The next dramatic video, taken on July 3, shows another eruption at Batu Tara that sends a huge column of debris down into the sea, creating a massive and ominous cloud of smoke.
This last video is actually from an eruption at Batu Tara that took place in early November, 2014, but it’s so crazy that we had to include it. It’s the kind of eruption that makes sacrificing virgins to make it stop seem like a sensible idea. Wowzers.
