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1902 Eruption Of Santa María
The 1902 eruption of Santa María was one of the largest eruptions of the 20th century, measuring a six on the volcanic explosivity index. The main eruption began on 24 October 1902 and lasted no more than 20 hours. Prior to its catastrophic eruption, Santa María had no record of an eruption. The eruption killed between 5,000 and 8,700 people. Immediate knowledge about the eruption was suppressed by President Manuel Estrada Cabrera due to the occurrence of a propaganda festival at around the same time of the eruption. Aid did not reach the affected areas immediately and only arrived in December. Background The formation of Santa María occurred approximately 30,000 years BP, constructing the present cone to a volume of . It comprise predominantly of basaltic andesites and pyroclastic material. It is part of a large volcanic belt that straddles the Pacific coast of Middle America. Prior to the 1902 eruption, there were no historical records of activity on the volcano. It was previ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa María (volcano)
Santa María Volcano is a large active volcano in the western highlands of Guatemala, in the Quetzaltenango Department near the city of Quetzaltenango. It is part of the mountain range of the Sierra Madre. The volcano was known as Gagxanul in the local Kʼicheʼ language, which means "Naked Volcano or Mountain", before the 16th century Spanish conquest of the region. The VEI-6 eruption of Santa María Volcano in 1902 was one of the three largest eruptions of the 20th century, after the 1912 Novarupta and 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruptions. It is also one of the five biggest eruptions of the past 200 (and most likely 300) years. Geological history Santa María Volcano is part of the Sierra Madre range of volcanoes, which extends along the western edge of Guatemala, separated from the Pacific Ocean by a broad plain. The volcanoes are formed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate under the Caribbean Plate, which led to the formation of the Central America Volcanic Arc. Eruption ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sextant
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation. The estimation of this angle, the altitude, is known as ''sighting'' or ''shooting'' the object, or ''taking a sight''. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart—for example, sighting the Sun at noon or Polaris at night (in the Northern Hemisphere) to estimate latitude (with sight reduction). Sighting the height of a landmark can give a measure of ''distance off'' and, held horizontally, a sextant can measure angles between objects for a position on a chart. A sextant can also be used to measure the lunar distance between the moon and another celestial object (such as a star or planet) in order to determine Greenwich Mean Time and hence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Blackbird
The common blackbird (''Turdus merula'') is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply the blackbird. It breeds in Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced species, introduced to Australia and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its large range; a few former Asian subspecies are now widely treated as separate species. Depending on latitude, the common blackbird may be Resident bird, resident, partially Bird migration, migratory, or fully migratory. The adult male of the common blackbird (''Turdus merula merula'', the nominate subspecies), which is found throughout most of Europe, is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and Beak, bill and has a rich, melodious Bird vocalization, song; the adult female and juvenile have mainly dark brown plumage. This species breeds in woods and gardens, building a neat, cup-shaped nest, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leafcutter Ant
Leafcutter ants are fungus-growing ants that share the behaviour of cutting leaves which they carry back to their nests to farm fungus. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form some of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. In a few years, the central mound of their underground nests can grow to more than across, with smaller radiating mounds extending out to a radius of , taking up and converted into 3.55 m individuals. Leafcutting groups Leafcutter ants are any of at least 55 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the three genera '' Atta'', '' Acromyrmex'', and '' Amoimyrmex'', within the tribe Attini. These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States.. Leafcutter ants can carry up to 50 times their body weight and cut and process fresh vegetation (leaves, flowers, and grasses) to serve as the nutritional substrate for their fungal cultivates. The leaf cutter an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Eisen
Gustavus Augustus Eisen (August 2, 1847 − October 29, 1940) was a Swedish-American polymath. He became a member of California Academy of Sciences in 1874 and a Life Member in 1883. In 1893, he became the 'Curator of Archaeology, Ethnology, and Lower Animals' at the academy. He later changed titles to 'Curator of Marine Invertebrates'. In 1938, he was appointed as an 'Honorary Member', which is considered the highest honor from the academy. Biography Eisen was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 2, 1847. He attended school at Visby and later graduated from the University of Uppsala in 1873. He came to California that same year to participate in a biotic survey sponsored by the Swedish Academy of Sciences. He decided to make California his home and joined the California Academy of Sciences the following year. He was known to have diverse interests, including "art and art history, archeology and anthropology, agronomy and horticulture, history of science, geography and cartogra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabian Coffee
''Coffea arabica'' (), also known as the Arabica coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee and madder family Rubiaceae. It is believed to be the first species of coffee to have been cultivated and is the dominant cultivar, representing about 60% of global production. Coffee produced from the less acidic, more bitter, and more highly caffeinated robusta bean ('' C. canephora'') makes up most of the remaining coffee production. The natural populations of ''Coffea arabica'' are restricted to the forests of South Ethiopia and Yemen. Taxonomy ''Coffea arabica'' was first described scientifically by Antoine de Jussieu, who named it ''Jasminum arabicum'' after studying a specimen from the Botanic Gardens of Amsterdam. Linnaeus placed it in its own genus ''Coffea'' in 1737. ''Coffea arabica'' is one of the polyploid species of the genus ''Coffea'', as it carries four copies of the eleven chromosomes (44 total) instead of the 2 copies of diploid species. Specifically, '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberian Coffee
''Coffea liberica'', commonly known as the Liberian coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae from which coffee is produced. It is native to western and central Africa (from Liberia to Uganda and Angola), and has become naturalised in areas including Colombia, Venezuela, the Philippines, Borneo and Java. Description ''Coffea liberica'' trees are very tall, reaching up to high. They are harvested using ladders. The size of the cherries, the beans, and the leaves of barako are also among the largest of all coffee varieties. The shape of the ''liberica'' beans is unique among other commercial species ('' arabica'', ''robusta'') and varieties (''liberica'' var. ''dewevrei''). It is asymmetric, with one side shorter than the other side, creating characteristic "hook" at the tip. The central furrow is also more jagged in comparison to other coffee beans. Characteristics ''Coffea liberica'' beans are larger than Arabica and Robusta beans, with a unique shape t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintal
The quintal or centner is a historical unit of mass in many countries that is usually defined as 100 base units, such as pounds or kilograms. It is a traditional unit of weight in France, Portugal, and Spain and their former colonies. It is commonly used for grain prices in wholesale markets in Ethiopia, Eritrea and India, where 1 quintal = . In British English, it referred to the hundredweight; in American English, it formerly referred to an uncommon measurement of . Languages drawing its cognate name for the weight from Romance languages include French, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish , Italian , Esperanto , Polish . Languages taking their cognates from Germanicized ''centner'' include the German , Lithuanian , Swedish , Polish , Russian and Ukrainian () and Estonian . Many European languages have come to translate both the British hundredweight (8 stone or ) and the American hundredweight (), as their cognate form of ''quintal'' or ''centner''. Name The concept has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crater Of Santa Maria Volcano, Guatemala, 1903
A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described as: "a bowl-shaped pit that is formed by a volcano, an explosion, or a meteorite impact". On Earth, craters are "generally the result of volcanic eruptions", while "meteorite impact craters are common on the Moon, but are rare on Earth". A 1961 ''New Scientist'' article speculating on the later-dismissed theory that the craters on the Moon might be volcanic in origin noted that "craters produced by volcanism are blessed with advantages of terrain and mineralization not found on impact craters". A crater may become a crater lake if conditions are suitable. This requires that the crater have relatively even and solid walls, and a source of water such as floodwaters, rain, snow, springs, or other groundwater. Types Impact crater An impact crater is a depress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debris Cone
A debris cone consists of debris deposited in a conical shape with a surface slope greater than 10 degrees (perpendicular to contours), usually transported by small streams or snow avalanches. A debris cone is also called a dirt cone or cone of detritus. A debris cone is commonly made when rock from a high-up narrow slit or gorge falls into a flat-floored valley. Here the soil and loose materials are deposited, leaving a mound of conical shape. While an alluvial fan is formed when flowing water rushes rock and soil down a slope, debris cones come from one of several dry processes known as mass wasting. That is gravity pulling loose materials downslope. Such mounds can reach sizes large enough to obstruct river channels. Similar deposits can also be found lying on boulders moved by a landslide, or on a glacier, where a cone-shaped mound of ice or snow may be covered with a veneer of debris thick enough to prevent the underlying ice from melting. See also * Colluvium * Alluvial fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Sapper
Karl Theodor Sapper (6 February 1866 - 29 March 1945) was a German traveler, explorer, and antiquarian who is known for his research into the natural history, and cultures of Central America. Education Sapper studied geology in Munich and showed a vivid interest in geography. Travel in Central America In 1888 the young Sapper traveled to Guatemala, where his brother worked as a coffee planter. For two years Sapper managed a plantation, but he gave up this position because of ill health. However, in those two years Sapper learned three languages from the locals, as Spanish was not in common use. He also carried out topographic, and geological surveys, while pursuing his interest in ethnography, and archeology. After giving up the plantation work, Sapper moved to Cobán and with the financial support of his brother he was able to dedicate himself to scientific studies. Sapper traveled throughout central America, and spent some time working as a geologist for the government of Mexic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dacite
Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. It is composed predominantly of plagioclase feldspar and quartz. Dacite is relatively common, occurring in many tectonic settings. It is associated with andesite and rhyolite as part of the subalkaline tholeiitic and calc-alkaline magma series. Etymology The word ''dacite'' comes from Dacia, a province of the Roman Empire which lay between the Danube River and Carpathian Mountains (now modern Romania and Moldova) where the rock was first described. The term ''dacite'' was used for the first time in the scientific literature in the book ''Geologie Siebenbürgens'' (''The Geology of Transylvania'') by Austrian geologists Franz Ritter von Hauer and Guido Stache. Dacite was originally defined as a new rock type to separate calc-alkaline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
