10volcanoesingirona“The present is the key to the past”.

Sketch made by Charles Lyell of the volcanoes around the Catalan town of Olot, from his Principles of Geology (Volume III: 1833). Volcanic eruptions in northern Catalonia offer windows into the recent geological past, their crater lakes preserving roses, rhinos, turtles and tapirs. Neanderthals witness phreatomagmatic explosions and fire-fountaining basaltic lava, and Lyell and his colleagues ponder on how many years they need to explain it all.
by-nc-nd 10th tale

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