Kawah Ijen Crater LakeThe most famous, well-publicized feature of the Kawah Ijen volcano is the blue

Kawah Ijen Crater LakeThe most famous, well-publicized feature of the Kawah Ijen volcano is the blue flame given off at night from burning sulfur at the site (http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js218fESS), but it’s not the only feature of interest in this Indonesian Volcano. This volcano hosts a crater lake unique on Earth in its extreme chemistry.Kawah Ijen volcano is found on the edge of the larger Merapi volcano, inside a much larger ancient feature known as the Ijen Caldera. The caldera formed when a large stratovolcano erupted and collapsed sometime between 300,000 and 50,000 years ago. Since then over a dozen smaller volcanic cones have grown in and around the caldera, including the active Kawah Ijen site where a volcanic cone has been repeatedly built and destroyed in eruptions over the last 24,000 years. The volcano is consistently active, including small eruptions that caused the site to be closed to minors and tourists in late 2015.The crater lake is fed by rainwater and connects directly to the volcanic system below. The chemical interaction between the lake water and the hot rocks releases sulfur and acidity that accumulates in the lake; recent measurements have recorded a pH as low as 0.3. One report from the person doing the measurement said that he had to almost immediately change his pants after getting the lake water on them to avoid chemical burns.The water in the crater lake drains out through the Banyupahit River, leading to a major ecological issue. The river water is used by local farmers for irrigation, with pH values of 2.5 to 3.5 measured in the water applied to the fields. Similarly, soils in this area have recorded pH values of 3.9.Acidic waters can easily dissolve metals that are insoluble in neutral waters, including cadmium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, and iron. These metals are all elevated in the soil and thus are also increased in plants grown from those soils. At present most of the agricultural products from this area remain within acceptable limits for human consumption, but as metals build up in the soil the products will only become more hazardous.-JBBImage credit: Justin Raycrafthttps://flic.kr/p/Jmj5DiReferences:http://geology.com/volcanoes/kawah-ijen/http://bit.ly/290AR6ihttps://www.volcanodiscovery.com/ijen.htmlwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15859115http://bit.ly/28VBCtYhttp://bit.ly/290mtcl -- source link

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