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Article: Into the mouth of hell: a journey into the crater of an active volcano.(Masaya Volcano )(Cover story)
- Article from:
- Oceanus
- Article date:
- August 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Ken Sims peers over the rim of Masaya Volcano and looks 2,000 feet (600 meters) down into the smoking crater lined with rows of jagged rocks that jut up like monstrous teeth. A 16th-century Spanish friar once called it "the mouth of hell."
Sweat drips from Sims' forehead on this sweltering Nicaraguan morning. The temperature is already 100[degrees]F (37[degrees]C). Only the vultures move quickly, spreading their black, bony wings to ride hot winds across the crater.
With the wind comes the gas which Sims and several colleagues are here to study. Sulfur-laced gusts swirl into Sims' face as he organizes his climbing ropes. He coughs and pulls up his gas ...