Drive up to the active volcano crater and park your car to see the lava lake. This is Masaya, Nicaragua.

There are many volcanic geological wonders and many volcanic geological scenic spots in the world, but the one with the most convenient transportation is undoubtedly Masaya in Nicaragua. Because of the asphalt roads here, you can drive directly to the top of the mountain. On the edge of the crater, the parking lot is only a few dozen meters away from the crater cliff. You can easily see the lava lake. It is a famous tourist attraction in the world for viewing active volcanoes.

Masaya Province is a province in Nicaragua in Central America; Masaya City is also the capital of Masaya Province, Nicaragua; Masaya Volcano is a large active volcano here. The volcano Masaya rises from the ground. On the entire plain, a huge cone-shaped mountain is arched because of this volcano. This became the "Masaya Volcano National Park". The national park here It is the earliest and largest national park established in Nicaragua. It is only more than 20 kilometers away from Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.

There are a large number of volcanoes in Nicaragua, and each volcano has its own characteristics. However, the Masaya volcano has convenient transportation and is almost a must-visit iconic attraction when traveling in Nicaragua, so tourists who visit The largest number and the highest reputation. The most recent large-scale eruption of Saya volcano was in October 2015, and it is still active today. Its main features are active lava lakes and continuous ejection of gas and steam. On the northern and eastern slopes of the volcano, You can see the black solidified hillsides formed by the flow of lava from a large number of volcanoes.

Such an active volcano was developed into a scenic spot, and a special tourist road was built to reach the top of the mountain. Although the built road was later covered and damaged by lava from another eruption, soon after, It was rebuilt and restored. At present, you can drive directly to the edge of the volcanic lava lake. There are traces of the flow of volcanic lava on both sides of the road. The road is very new, indicating that the repair was completed not long ago.

Generally, active volcano crater tourist attractions require people to hike a long way to reach them. Cone-shaped volcanoes only have endless uphill roads, and the final section on the top of the mountain is extremely steep and dangerous. When going down a volcano, you usually ride a mat or a skateboard. People can use gravity to slide the volcanic ash down the mountain from the gentle slope of the top of the volcano. Currently, the only active volcano crater where you can drive directly to the top of the mountain without hiking is Masaya.

Active volcanoes regularly erupt and experience earthquakes. It is common to feel earthquakes several times a day. Even with professional seismic measuring equipment, thousands of earthquakes of different levels can be measured in a month. Volcanic ash, magma, and splashed stones will damage nearby roads, including hiking trails. Roads near the volcano are destroyed after being built, then rebuilt and then destroyed again, and so on.

The active volcano attractions are divided into high and low seasons throughout the year, only day and night. When you go to the crater during the day, you can only see huge smoke and it is difficult to see the red magma. The magma is not all flames, so the brightness is very low. The magma is also covered with black cooling material. Only in the extremely active period does the magma heat up violently. , lava bubbles are constantly emerging (basically not far from the volcanic eruption, and the scenic area will begin to close), so it is difficult to see the red volcanic lava during the day.

At night, the impact of smoke on vision becomes smaller, and the blood-red lava lake can be seen with the naked eye. Although the light of the lava lake is not high, the magical blood-red light in the darkness can penetrate With all the smoke, dark is the best time to see the volcano. For example, the sulfur blue fire of volcanoes in Indonesia is best seen in the early morning, while the volcanoes in Central America are best seen in the evening.

Generally tourists start visiting the volcano at about 4 or 5 pm, which is considered one of Nicaragua’s night tour attractions. Tickets are US$5 for locals and US$10 for foreigners. Since we are traveling by car in Nicaragua, after buying the tickets, we can drive up to the crater by ourselves. There are no forks along the way and you won’t get lost without using road signs. Just climb to the top of the mountain. By the way, you can drive to the top of the mountain in just a few dozen minutes.

On the way up the mountain by car, a large area on the roadside is where lava has flowed. It has the kind of magma folds. On the black lava cooling material, new green vegetation has grown rapidly. , volcanic ash and lava ashes are rich in various minerals. After being cooled and moistened by rain, the plants on it grew quite lushly.

You can smell the strong smell of sulfur dioxide along the way, and you can see the steam coming out of the crater forming clouds in the sky, and the thin white smoke of sulfide (sometimes with some black smoke) along the hillside. Float downwards. It is necessary to wear a mask here. If you can, please also wear a gas mask. Sulfide is still very harmful to the human respiratory system and lungs. Where sulfide gas is concentrated, it will also have a significant impact on the imaging of photographic equipment. The photos taken will have serious color casts, reduced image quality, and more noise. This impact on the camera may take several days to resolve. Eliminate gradually and naturally.

On the satellite map, you can find that although the land around the volcano is very fertile, the main cities, towns and farmland are on the east and northeast of the volcano. This should be consistent with the wind direction and lava flow in the area. Threat related.

The capital city of Masaya, the largest human settlement in the area, is separated from the Masaya volcano by the Masaya Lake, although more than half of the Masaya Lake has been destroyed by the volcano. The lake is filled with lava, but this lake is still the best natural barrier against the invasion of volcanic lava.

Finally arrived at the crater parking lot. The parking lot is very large. A few dozen meters away from the parking lot is a cement wall. Behind the wall is a steep mountain wall. Below is the crater. The area is filled with white or dark colors. The smoke is thin and has a pungent smell that makes people runny nose and cough. Because the gas emitted by the volcano waxes and wanes, the temperature and wind near the crater fluctuate greatly.

Near the parking lot, there are many trails that can be hiked around the volcanic bulge or crater, but some trails have warnings that they are not accessible. It is obvious that these trails have been damaged by volcanic movements after they were built. The stones are all sulfur color, with various corrosion and damage. There is sparse vegetation in the crater, and the overall color is dark.

You can see volcanic rocks with large pores on the surrounding mountaintops. Some volcanic rocks are as big as cars. These rocks were ejected when the volcano erupted. In the nearby leeward area, there are many buildings and houses. There is an observatory dedicated to studying volcanoes. Due to its good transportation conditions, this volcano is used to study the Central American volcanic arc (the distribution of active volcanoes in Central America shows a roughly arc-shaped distribution). zone, which is an important research point related to the frictional movement of the American Plate and the Antarctic Plate).

Masaya Volcanoes National Park is actually a volcanic complex covering an area of ??6.5 x 11.5 kilometers, with different volcanic geological forms such as calderas and shield volcanoes, including Nindiri, San Pedro Luo, San Juan, Santiago and other volcanic vents and craters. The geology of the volcanic crater wall is quite unstable, and it is very likely to cause partial collapse during an earthquake. Staff in the scenic area are always guarding to prevent tourists from crossing the warning line.

The lava lake that can be seen on the top of the mountain is the caldera of Volcan Santiago. There are more than three overlapping volcanic vents nearby. The highest peak of the volcano is on the other side. The highest volcanic peak here is 591 meters above sea level, overlooking the entire surrounding plain.

After night falls, the red-glow lava lake becomes clearer. You can see that there is a lid formed by cooling of lava in the lower part of the crater. There is a gap in the lid (it only occupies a small part of the lava lake. Most of the lava is covered). From the gap, you can see the red lava below. The lava is moving and rolling, and the color of the red lava you see changes with movement.

According to local temperature measurement data, the surface temperature of the lava lake varies around 800 degrees Celsius, and usually does not exceed 900 degrees. Generally speaking, the temperature of lava is between 700 and 1200 degrees Celsius. The hottest lava should be at the bottom of the volcano, and the lava on the upper surface should be the coldest. By measuring the temperature of the volcanic lava lake, the volcanic activity and eruption risk can be judged. The current temperature is safe. Thinking about it this way, I watched more than 9 hours of movies and watched a story about sending the Lord of the Rings into a lava lake to melt. The gold ring was thrown on the surface of the lava lake. The temperature was too low. The melting point of gold is over 1000 degrees. The Lord of the Rings needs to be sunk. It takes a long time to melt the Lord of the Rings deep in the volcano. The plot in the movie seems to be quite consistent with scientific knowledge.

Such a volcanic geological wonder is indeed beautiful and interesting. You can learn a lot about the earth's volcanic geology. The tickets and scenery are very cost-effective. This is a magical national park that you must visit when traveling in Nicaragua, Central America. .