Chapter 5:

Paricutin

So those are the historic volcanic stories that I think are interesting to compare to Pompeii. But Santorini and Krakatoa are also modern volcano stories because of the new volcanoes we see forming. That seems really interesting, surprising and wild to me. The idea that you could visit a place, and then return at a later time and find a new mountain or volcano there is neat.

Or even better, imagine you are playing in the street in front of your house and the Earth starts to shake. Suddenly you see the Earth explode in front of you. The birth of a volcano takes place and you are there to witness it. That is what happened to Dionisio Pulido, a farmer working in a field approximately 200 miles west of Mexico City. It seems like volcanoes can form anywhere.

Late in the afternoon on February 20, 1943 Pulido was out working in his cornfield with his wife Paula. Pulido went to burn some branches and suddenly the Earth began to shake. A large crack opened and smoke began to pour out. He could see ash building up in the crack. This pile of ash would quickly become the basis for a new volcanic mountain. During the first six days, the new volcano grew 150 feet. Pulido and his neighbors from the town could literally watch the volcano grow in front of their own eyes. That seems pretty unusual.