Sullivan Bay Lava Flows Santiago Island

We took a hike across the Sullivan Bay lava flows on the eastern side of Santiago Island, where a volcanic eruption that took place in the second half of the 19th century created a dramatic landscape. Since this volcanic eruption happened just a short time ago, in perspective to the earth’s history, it is untouched by erosion, and every lava ripple and pahoehoe formation give the hiker the impression they are walking on a foreign landscape. Add in the fact that it was a late afternoon hike, when the sun is low on the horizon casting surrealistic shadows, and you feel as though you have been transported to Mars.

The beautiful structures of the surface look as if it is still bubbling with hot molten lava, and only the hardy Brachycereus cactus and Mollugo carpetweed plants have sparsely colonized the glazed black basalt lava. There were a few Galapagos Mockingbirds that flitted through and we saw a lava lizard scurrying past on his way to a more hospitable destination, they are a testament to nature’s resilience. Life will always find a way to survive.

Pahoehoe lava, a Hawaiian term for basaltic lava that has a smooth, hummocky, or ropy surface, marked with a series of pyroclastic cones stretch as far as the eye can see in all kinds of bizarre shapes.

The below information and more can be found at the USGS web site.  Click the link HERE to read more.

"Ropy pahoehoe is the most common surface texture of pahoehoe flows. The numerous folds and wrinkles ("ropes") that are characteristic of ropy pahoehoe form when the thin, partially solidified crust of a flow is slowed or halted (for example, if the crust encounters an obstruction or slower-moving crust). Because lava beneath the crust continues to move forward, it tends to drag the crust along. The crust then behaves like an accordian that is squeezed together--the crust is flexible enough to develop wrinkles or a series of small ridges and troughs as it is compressed and driven forward.

Lava coils are spiral or scroll-shaped features that form along slow-moving shear zones in a flow; for example, along the margins of a small channel. The direction of flow can be determined from a lava coil." 

I should add in a note that Santiago Island is also known by San Salvador Island or as James Island. It seems that Alaska and the Galapagos suffer the same identity crises as I am sure you have heard they have renamed our mountain back to Denali. Of which it has always held this name for us Alaskans new and old. The Great One has its identity back!