Astrum Space - This Is the Weirdest Volcano on Earth | Astrum Earth

Episode Date: September 23, 2026

Blue and black lava, acid lakes, and mutant sharks… these volcanoes look like something from another planet. But why do they behave so strangely? In this video, we dive deep into the inner workings of our planet to reveal the mind-bending science behind Earth’s weirdest volcanic anomalies.▀▀▀▀▀▀Ready to be seen? Check that appointment off your to-do list with Zocdoc ✅: https://zocdoc.com/astrumearth ▀▀▀▀▀▀A huge thanks to our Patreons who help make these videos possible. Sign-up here: ⁠https://bit.ly/4aiJZNF

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Spectacular eruptions. lava spewing across the surface of our planet. Ash clouds filling the skies. That's what volcanic eruptions look like. Or is it? Because not all volcanoes are like this. In fact, some break the rules entirely, and I want to tell you about the most brilliant ones. One burns with a ghastly blue flame beside a lake more acidic than battery acid. Another erupts with black lava that flows almost like oil. A third sits in Antarctica, the coldest place in the world, yet keeps an open

lake of molten rock glowing inside its summit. And then there's a volcano you can barely see at all. But whilst they may be strange and particularly deadly, these volcanic outliers are a scientific gift. Each one reveals something strange and fundamental about how our planet works. Because the The volcano isn't just a mountain filled with lava. It's chemistry, pressure, heat, water, gas and time, all forced through a small weakness in the crust. And sometimes with just the right mix, you get astounding results. I'm James Stewart and you're watching Astrum Earth. Join me in this video as we journey around the world to find the weirdest volcanoes our planet has to offer.

We'll unpack how they came to be. delve deep into the science of their inner workings, and marvel at the sheer power and beauty they add to the planet we call home. Just don't get too close. First up is a volcano that spews out bright blue lava. Indonesia is home to more than 400 volcanoes, but this one, called Kawaijan, lies in Java, right at the eastern end of the island, not far from the strait that separates it from Bali. It sits inside the larger Egen volcanic complex, an alien landscape of cones, craters, old caldera walls, lava flows and sulphur stained rock. Now, during the day, this volcano looks pretty ordinary, unremarkable, forgettable even. But at night time, it completely transforms.

The dark sky is illuminated by vivid blue lava rolling down the hills of the volcano, shimmering against. the pitch black. Or at least that's what it looks like is happening, because what's actually happening here is chemistry. You see, the lava itself isn't really blue. Instead, what we're seeing is the combustion of sulfuric gases as they come into contact with air at high temperatures, which, okay, might not sound as exciting as smurf-colored lava-pouring out of a blistering volcano,

but trust me, it's just as fascinating. The fumaroles, those openings in order, a volcano that emits steam and other volcanic gases, regularly output sulfur crystals that enrich that lava. At Kaua EGen, unusually large amounts of sulfuric gases are released alongside the lava at high pressure and high temperature, sometimes exceeding 600 degrees Celsius. Now, in its elemental form, sulfur is yellow, but when these gases come into contact with oxygen in the air and are ignited by the lava, the sulfur burns easily, due to a relatively low ignition point, just 232 degrees, producing these vivid blue flames, which I'm sure you'll agree are mesmerizing. But why does it turn blue? Well, it's about to get quantum here for a moment, so bear with me. Atoms, as we know, have electrons in them, and those electrons can only be at

very specific energy levels within the atom, called quantized states. Think about walking up a staircase. If you try to stand somewhere between two stairs, you're just going up on the lower step. Well, it's the same thing with electrons in the atom. Now, if you give an electron enough energy, it can make it up to that next step, that next energy level. But pretty soon it's going to drop back to its original lower energy level. And when it does, it releases a very exact amount of energy as a photon. The energy that photon has corresponds to a specific wavelength of light, which corresponds to a particular colour.

And in the case of sulphur, that just happens to be this enchanting blue colour. In fact, there is so much sulphur coming out of this volcano that it can sometimes flow down the rock-faced while still burning, creating the illusion that blue lava is pouring down the mountain side, hence the viral photos, videos and maybe even the reason you clicked on this video. In reality though, it's the flames, not the lava that are blue, which is why the effect can only be seen at night. It was Reggie Etienne, head of Geneva's Society for Volcanology,

who first visited the volcano in 2008, with an Indonesian guide and put this place firmly on the map, when he took French photographer Olivier Grunewald to see it in action. But it's not only the flames that work tirelessly through the night here. Against the bright blue backdrop, silhouettes move in the darkness, silently doing one of the most dangerous jobs. in the world. Every single day, hundreds of people are not only exposed to those harmful gases, but those gases help them put food on the table. In recent years, ceramic pipes have been

installed into the hill size to capture the sulfuric gases and condense them into pure sulphur, a valuable element to using everything from sugar production to medicines. That elemental sulphur is then chiseled away and mined by hand and carried out of the crater by a group of daring miners, lifting 70 to 80 kilos worth of sulphur on their backs at any one time. The harsh reality is that this job pays double the salary of working in the surrounding fields, but there's a bigger price to pay. Many of the workers develop major health issues as a result, mostly lung and breathing problems, all for a salary of just $4 to $5 a day.

That is part of Kauaigen's weirdness. It's not only a volcano, it's also a natural sulphur factory. Yet somehow this still isn't the strangest thing about this place. Because Kaui Jen is also home to one of the most extreme crater lakes on earth. A lake with a pH measure below 0.3. That's more acidic than battery acids. With a volume of 36 million cubic meters, this is the largest highly acidic lake in the world. Most crater lakes are formed when rainwater and groundwater collect in a volcanic depression.

But at Kaua Egen, the lake is not just sitting in an old hull. It's part of the volcano's active plumbing system, a giant chemical condenser almost. Much like its blue-flamed neighbours, the reason behind this swimming pool full of battery acid is also a chemical one. The volcano itself endlessly emits hydrogen chloride and hydrogen sulfide gases which dissolve in the water and form hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. It's a constant cycle. Rain dilutes the system, evaporation concentrates it, and the volcano keeps feeding new gases from below, concentrating the acids even further. One volcanologist, Dr. Glimm Williams-Jones, had to once stop a tourist who was about to go for a swim in what she thought was a nice blue lagoon. I'll leave you to imagine what might have become of her had he not.

Just imagine the scene in the doctor's office for that one. Yeah, no thank you. Which reminds me, actually, I moved house quite recently, which meant doing all the usual glamorous live admin that comes with it. Like, registering with a new doctor. Fortunately, I hadn't stepped into a lake full of acid, but, but even so, I thought it would be quite simple. There's a surgery literally right next to my new house. I'll just go register there. except I couldn't. The surgery was full. And somehow that tiny problem erupted into an entire admin project, figuring out where I could register, who was taking new patients, what was actually nearby, and because it wasn't urgent, I did what I suspect quite a lot of us do with this kind of thing, and I did nothing.

It went as dormant as a volcano, but the good news is there are far easier ways to find a doctor. I'm really happy that ZocDop is sponsoring this video and helping to do that. take some of the pressure out of the system. For those of you in the US, Zocdoc is a free online marketplace that makes this whole process considerably easier. You can search for local doctors by things like speciality, location and insurance.

Compare detailed profiles and reviews from real patient. And this is the bit I really like, you can actually see available appointment times before you book. So there's no finally convincing yourself to make the phone call, waiting on hold, and playing phone tag, then discovering the next available appointment is weeks away. You can see your options, choose the provider that fits best for you, and book the appointment

online. That's it. Zocdoch has providers across 200 plus specialities in all 50 states. And appointments book through the platform typically take place within 24 to 72 hours, with same day appointments available in some cases. So if there's an appointment you've been meaning to make, but it's sitting somewhere near the bottom of your to do. list, this is your reminder to actually do it. Don't wait until your life admin reaches full eruption. Okay, I'll start with the volcano puns now. Head to Zocdoch.com slash Ashram Earth. Click the QR code on screen right here or click the link at the top of the description and get booking that appointment off your to do list. Taking care of your health just got easier. Head to Zocdooc.com slash Ashram

Earth to get started and we'll head back to some volcanoes. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,

please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. What makes Kaua-Egen so fascinating to me is that while many volcanoes release acid gases, many volcanoes have crater lakes, but here, the interaction is unusually direct and visible. The volcano does not just erupt gases into the atmosphere, it stores them, dissolves them, concentrates them, and turns them into an entire acidic landscape, and that's a problem. You see, Kauwit Agen is not known for huge lava fountains or towering plumes. like some volcanoes. Its danger is far more subtle. Obviously one hazard is gas, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide can accumulate in low areas, especially in the crater. If the wind shifts or gas

concentrations rise, the crater can become deadly very quickly, but there are other dangers too. Since 1796, Kaua Agen has erupted 10 times, with only one magmatic eruption recorded in 1817. Instead, one of the real hazards here is a freatic eruption, an explosion driven by steam. When hot rock, magma or volcanic gas rapidly heats water, the water expands violently. In a crater lake environment like this, that can blast ash, acidic water and debris out of the crater with little warning. And there have been multiple eruptions of this kind, the most recent being in 2002. Kawa Igen's beauty is inseparable from its hazards. The same gas that makes breathtaking blue flames also poisons the air.

The same lake that glows turquoise is chemically extreme. The same hydrothermal system that creates sulfur deposits can destabilize rock and trigger steam explosions. Kauaigen is a reminder that volcanoes don't need rivers of red lava to be dangerous. But our next volcano is weird for the opposite reason. The lava itself is wrong. Ordonio Lengai produces possibly the strangest lava on the planet. Most lava on Earth is made mainly from silicate minerals. Even when it's fluid like basalt in Hawaii or Iceland,

it's still built around silica and oxygen arranged into molten mineral structures. But in northern Tanzania, this lava is. based on carbonates instead. Oldonial Lengai is the only place on planet Earth currently erupting carbonatite lava. This is lava like no other, jam-packed with alkali elements like calcium, sodium and potassium, along with abundant carbon dioxide. So why is that so weird? Well most terrestrial lava is silicate made from bonded chains of silicon and oxygen, even low silica material like this, basalt is still 45% silica.

But here on the East African Rift system, this carbonatite magma is alkali heavy. It has less than 25% of the weight of silica, and instead is mostly composed of calcium carbonates. And that does some pretty weird stuff. Silica is one of the main components that gives magma the structure and strength that we're used to seeing, that sort of stereotypical, thick, orange-looking stuff.

So if you remove much of that silica and change the chemistry, the lava can behave in ways that feel almost impossible. Carbonate magma can have much lower viscosity, allowing for the strange garden hose eruptions that exemplify the bizarre activity in the crater of Odonio Lengai. In other words, it's very, very runny. The lack of structure and its composition also allows carbonatite magma to erupt at much cooler tentative. than silicate magma, only 5 to 600 degrees Celsius. Compare that with basaltic lava that erupts around 1,000 degrees Celsius and you can see the difference. Whilst 5, 600 degrees Celsius still sounds pretty hot and is still dangerous, geologically speaking, it's pretty cool in all senses. Carbonatite ages differently to silicate too.

The carbonate materials inside, like calcite, nairarite and gregoryite, break down very quickly when exposed to water or even a humid atmosphere, which paints Ordanior Lengai a very unusual colour. In daylight, this lava can appear not bright red, but black or even dark grey. It only glows visibly at night. It can be so fluid that it splashes and runs in thin streams, often looking more like dark oil or wet cement than the heavy orange lava we expect. Then, after exposure to air and moisture, it changes again. The fresh black lava reacts quickly with the atmosphere.

It's carbonate minerals weather and altar, turning from grey to white. This is why the summit of Odonio Lengai can look snow-dusted, even in the hot, dry landscape of Tanzania. Of course, this isn't snow. It's chemically altered lava. This should also be good news for those living nearby. low viscosity magma typically doesn't erupt explosively and generally means eruptions of lava instead. This is because the gas bubbles can escape from the lava without becoming trapped. But once again, this is where things get even stranger and in this case even more dangerous.

In September 2007, the volcano which at that point only had one crater, suddenly blasted open a second crater more than 100 meters deep in a an area north of the summit. This crater continued to erupt into 2008, and unlike the lava itself, the plot thickens. These eruptions were likely due to how much carbon dioxide can actually be dissolved in the magma. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology think different magmas mixed beneath the volcano causing the eruption. That mixing reduced how much CO2 the magma could hold, so the CO2 rapidly came out. as gas bubbles. As the magma rose, those bubbles expanded, helping to make the eruption much more explosive. The ash from the 24th of September 2007 also showed evidence

that the eruption involved a new hybrid magma, formed by the interaction between natu-carbonate-magma and the phenonite magma. That matters because this mixing helps explain why loads of CO2 could be forced out for the magma so quickly. The more CO2 you can pack in the more likely it is to erupts no matter how runny it may be. And that's because CO2 behaves a bit like gas in a fizzy drink, if you can imagine that. When magma is deep underground, it's under huge pressure, so gases like carbon dioxide can stay dissolved in it. But if that magma starts moving up with the pressure drops.

And when that happens, the CO2 can no longer stay dissolved, so it forms those bubbles. You can see from the eruption that some of the lava actually looks silver in colour, suggesting large amounts of gas in these relatively small eruptions. These eruptions also offered a glimpse into a question scientists have long been trying to answer. Where does that lava actually come from? Until recently, the mechanics beneath the volcano largely remained a mystery, mostly because it's incredibly remote and hard to access. But now researchers have started using INSAR,

interferometric synthetic aperture radar data, and GNSSS instruments, global navigation satellite systems. To reveal that instead of just one reservoir, Aldonu Lengai might instead be fed by a multi-reservoir magma plumbing system. These systems could form a connected maze of magma reservoirs, feeder channels, dikes and sills that move molten rock from deep below the earth toward the surface. In May 2023, a study published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, led by Tam B. La Dadaud of Ardi University, set up their global navigation satellite system in the hunt for more clues.

This in itself was no mean feat. Sending real-time data from the volcano took years of work due to its remote location. But eventually, the team established six monitoring stations around the volcano. Each station was designed to detect tiny movements in the ground, both from the magma shifting below Aldon-Yulengai, and from movement along the nearby Natron Fault. Once established, they were able to add the second element, INSA data. GNSS is incredibly precise, capable of tracking three-dimensional ground movement down to millimeters continuously and in real time. But because it only measures at the exact places where instruments are installed, its coverage is limited.

InSAR, by contrast, uses satellites to map deformation across a much wide, area. It gives a broader view, but only when the satellite passes overhead, usually just a few times per month. But put these two together and they make a pretty unsuppable team. The two data sets reveal something intriguing. The volcano's plumbing system may not sit directly beneath the crater. Instead, the evidence points to a shallow magma source offset between Odonulengai and the nearby dormant volcano, Geli. And that shallow source appears to be defle Beneath it, the data also suggest deeper magma reservoirs feeding the system from 2,000 meters below, which matches what earlier geodetic studies had proposed. And the final revelation was especially interesting, because that shallow reservoir may be connected to the active crater by a network of small fractures. So rather than one simple pipe rising straight up through the volcano,

O'Doniel Lengai may be fed by a more complex off-center system, a hidden network of reservoirs and cracks that helps explain why this volcano can shift between gentle lava flows and much more explosive behaviour. This volcano can almost change its personality. I mean, what can be weirder than that? So far we've seen a volcano where gas burns blue and a volcano where lava is made of carbonate. But the next one is weird because it's a geological first for, just about everything. A volcano with an open lake is rare. A volcano with an open lake in Antarctica

feels impossible. But that's exactly what's hiding on Ross Island, the world's southernmost active volcano, which by the way also spits out gold dust. You will not find another place on earth quite like this. A volcano where fire and ice collide in the most spectacular way. While its surface is frozen solid enough to form incredible ice caves, just below your feet churns a lake of molten rock that reaches temperatures over a thousand degrees Celsius. I mean, forget Game of Thrones. This is the true tale of fire and ice. Mount Erebus rises 3,794 meters above Ross Island in Antarctica, just a few miles from McMurdo Station, one of the largest research bases on the continent. In past bouts of volcanic activity, it's been known to eject boulders of partially molten rock known as volcanic bombs or aerobus crystals.

Make no mistake, this is not a dead volcano poking through the ice. It is active, degassing, and home to one of only five persistent lava lakes in the world. That alone makes this place unique, with air temperatures of minus 35 degrees Celsius, and larva lake temperatures in excess of 950 degrees Celsius. How can the coldest place on Earth also be one of the hottest at the same time? Well, the secret is what's going on below this monstrosity. You see, persistent lava lakes require a delicate balance, and there are very few places on our planet that have all the necessary ingredients.

But Erebus ticks all the boxes. The lava lake itself is around 20 to 30 metres wide, and sits in a crater within another crater of Mount Erebus itself. For the lava lake to remain open for decades and it's been active since at least 1972, the system needs a steady supply of hot magma and gas from below, balanced against cooling and convection at the surface. Underneath this scalding lava lake is a conduit, a sort of tube that leads down to a chamber full of magma.

Even with the freezing temperatures at the surface, The lake won't cool down into solid rock because below it, there's a constant churning of magma that continues to heat it up. As hot magma rises to the top of the lake, it begins to spread outward, cooling down as it spreads and getting denser as it cools. As it gets denser, it sinks back down again and so the cycle continues. And then this volcano turns into a real-life, fire-breathing dragon. It's able to change the type of gas it emits in regular patterns every 10 to 18 minutes or so, and up until recently, scientists had no idea why or how. Over time and working in extreme conditions,

scientists have managed to install remote sensors along the crater rim to analyze the gas it emits. They notice a repetitive shift in not only the amount of gas, but also in its composition. For example, the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide ratios will, change, as with the levels of water vapour and sulphur dioxide. Scientists describe it as if the volcano is breathing, and it's the first time ever they've observed something like this, so how does it work? Well, scientists think it's down to there being two main sources of gas present. One comes from the conduit itself, and the other from diffusion in the lake. The carbon dioxide-rich gas is always rising from the conduit. It's a constant, so neither

the composition or the amount of gas fluctuates too much, unless that is, the conduit burps out a large blob of magma from deeper in the chamber. It works sort of like a one-way lava lamp. Once that blob gets nearer to the surface of the lake, it releases a nice brand new set of gases, adding to the overall amount detected and changing the composition of the water vapor too. But you didn't come here for that. You came for the gold dust.

So where's that? You're going to like this one. Mount Erebus is quite literally a gold mine. Its plumes are loaded with tiny crystals of metallic gold. And this frozen powder keg continuously emits fine vapour particles that contain 80 grams of gold every single day. In today's money, that's around $10,500 worth of gold daily. And trust me, that gold travels too.

Antarctic researchers have found traces. an ambient air up to a thousand kilometers from the volcano. Although, let me stop you before you jump on a ship bound for the Drake Passage. This doesn't mean there's an actual gold mine in the sky, I'm sorry to say. The amount is tiny, dispersed and quite impossible to harvest in any practical way. So yeah, scientifically fascinating, fiscally disappointing. What's not disappointing though, is what's nestled into the flanks of Erebus. Ice caves. Warm gases melt tunnels through the ice. Cold Antarctic air freezes the edges into walls, chimneys and strange translucent structures.

Winding networks have been whittled away by gases escaping from the volcano, creating pheumorolic ice caves. The special conditions within the caves make them a hotspot for studying extremophiles. And Erebus's caves have even been found. to home 61 species of fungi. This discovery made by Laurie Connell from the School of Marine Sciences University of Maine in 2013, was believed to be the first report of a fungal community setting up camp in a dark volcanic system in Antarctica.

We all know volcanoes can be deadly, but sometimes they're deadly in very different ways, ways that have nothing to do with explosions or lava. To many around the world, Mount Erebus is more than, most well known as the site of New Zealand's worst ever peacetime disaster. Tragically, on the 28th of November 1979, a sight-seeing aircraft carrying 257 people crashed head on into the side of the volcano. Air New Zealand had started operating scenic flights over Antarctica only two years before, and up until then they had been a great success. On this fateful day, however, something changed. The plane's pilot, Captain Jim Collins,

bought the plane down to around 610 metres to offer his passengers a better view of the region. But instead of snow and ice in the distance, what the cockpit was looking at was the mountain right ahead of them. And by then it was too late. The two main reasons often cited for the crash are the pilots being briefed differently on a flight path versus the one they had in the plane's computer and a natural weather event known as a whiteout. Whiteouts are incredibly dangerous. luring the light between snow and ice under the clouds to give the illusion of visibility. The crash killed 227 passengers and 30 crew on board,

and 44 people were never identified during the search and rescue operations. Heartbreakingly, the wreckage of the down-DC-templain is still there decades later. Advertising on Spotify with audio and display ads helps brands turn attention into results. Download the 2026 performance playbook and discover why Spotify belongs in your media plan. Every volcano we've talked about in this video has brought something brilliantly weird to the geology table, from a chemical soup creating an acid lake in Indonesia to black, runny larva in Africa and now a land of fire, ice and gold. But there's still something missing. And so our final volcano takes us to an underwater world, one filled not only with volcanoes,

But also great ocean predators. In 2015, ocean engineer Brennan Phillips led a team to the remote Solomon Islands in search of hydrothermal activity. The team cautiously approached Kavachi, one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the Pacific, and lowered their camera 50 meters down into the water. Their aim was to simply film the volcano itself and try and get some footage of it doing what submarine volcanoes do. exploding. One hour later and the camera returned to the surface, revealing something wild. These highly acidic high temperature and high sulfur-rich environments shouldn't be home to life. But there on the camera fee were not one but two species of shark, silky sharks and scalloped hammerheads gliding through this most hostile of environments. They had just captured for the first time shark,

inside a volcano, but how? This is where it gets weird, because scientists think the sharks might actually be using these conditions to their advantage. Yes, it's likely that these marine creatures use the volcano's intermittent calm periods to inhabit the area, possibly taking advantage of a unique kemosynthetic food web powered by volcanic microbes, but it gets better still. Because these are not ordinary sharks. Indeed, they might well be mutant sharks. Okay, so they're not about to join Professor X and the X-Men. But, but there is some discourse in scientific corners that these sharks may have actually adapted to this environment, something scientists are trying to work out as we speak.

And that's not all they're trying to figure out. Even mutant sharks would still surely get blown to smithereens every time this volcano goes off. to how are they just swimming around so casually? Well, scientists are trying to work out whether something alerts them prior to an eruption, a sort of underwater warning sign. And if they can pinpoint what that is, it could help us predict volcanic eruptions on the surface too.

Whilst marine biologists dare to venture closer into the heart of the volcano to work it out, let's take a step back to look at how a shark-infested volcano came to be in the first place. Kovachi is a submarine volcano, volcano in the Solomon Islands, in the southwest Pacific. It is sometimes called Kavachi's oven, a reference to local tradition and the volcano's habit of boiling the sea above it, or it's also known here on YouTube as Shark Cano, and perhaps now you can see why. Its edifice

is 8 kilometers wide, and it rises 1,200 meters from the sea floor. Helpfully for us, when it comes to monitoring it, however, its summit remains just 20 meters below sea level. This This volcano is composed from large volumes of ash in addition to basalt and andesite lava. And it's the high viscosity of that andesite magma that makes this volcano the most explosive in the area. When molten rock at hundreds, if not thousands of degrees Celsius contact seawater, the water flash boils into steam. Steam occupies far more volume than liquid water, so the expansion can fragment the magma and blast particles

upward. The result is not like a graceful lava fountain on land. It's an explosion of steam, ash, shattered rock, bubbles and hot fluid, all fighting through the weight of the ocean. And that depth matters here. If the vent is very deep, the pressure of the water can suppress explosions, and lava may erupt as pillow lavas or slow flows. If the vent is shallow, though, like it is at Kavachi, eruptions can break the surface. That's why. Why Kavachi is visible from space during active phases, not because we can see the larva directly, but because we can see the ocean responding to it. The volcano essentially stains the sea. So impactful is this place that the fifth of its recorded eruptions have ended up forming temporary volcanic islands.

And that's one of these strangest things about submarine volcanoes. They can create land and lose it almost immediately. A new island is born, but if it's made of loose ash and shattered volcanic debris, the ocean attacks it from every side. Unless lava flows weld that material into something strong enough, the island may vanish in weeks, if not months. We do not yet have all the answers, but Kovachi forces us to think about volcanoes not just as destroyers, but as creators of habitats. hydrothermal systems that can feed microbial life through chemosynthesis. Microbes support food webs. Volcanic creators can become ecosystems.

And this one is a living volcanic environment, filled with sharks. Look, I'll be honest, at the start of this video, I wasn't really expecting to find much in common between these weird volcanoes in truth. But as we come to the end of our introduction to Earth's weirdest volcanoes, Maybe these four geological oddities have more in common than I realised. The weirdest volcanoes are not just strange because they look dramatic. They're strange because they expose the hidden variables that control volcanism everywhere. Volcanoes are experiments run by the Earth under different conditions.

And the weirdest volcanoes are the ones where the experiment is most visible. They show us that our planet is not static rock beneath our feet. It's active, reactive. reactive and still inventing landscapes we can barely believe are real. The Earth doesn't really need science fiction. We already have blue fire, black lava, lava lakes in Antarctica, sprouting gold dust and shark canos. If you enjoy this, please do subscribe for more deep dives into the forces that shape our planet. And I'd love to know from you in the comments down below which volcano you liked the most.

Did I miss one? Does one deserve its own full episode? Let me know down below and I'll see you in the next one.