Virtual Volcano Vacation #67 WINNER! – Piton de la Fournaise

France…not exactly the first place one thinks of when thinking of volcanoes, but worldwide, France has 21 volcanoes under their jurisdiction. Many are inactive, and some are submarine, but the one I am visiting this week more than makes up for the unvolcanolike behaviour of those others. Piton de la Fournaise is a shield volcano…

(updated 1 December 2018)

2018 Scoreboard
Aficientífico – 18 points
Kylie – 10 points
Leslie – 9 points
Jonet – 8 points
Volcanohead – 2.5 points
Granyia – 2 points

2017 Scoreboard
Aficientífico – 181 points
Glenn – 62 points
Granyia – 37 points
Jesper – 31 points
Jonet – 27 points
Li’l Volcanohead – 10 points
William Franck – 8 points
Kelly – 6 points
Wyatt Everhart – 6 points
Kylie P – 5 points
Janice Norman – 1 point
karenj26 – 1 point

2016 Scoreboard
Jesper – 137 points
Jonet – 105 points
Leslie – 71 points
Granyia – 55 points
Spike -21 points
George – 19 points
Kelly – 13 points
Glenn Rivers – 12 points
Beardy Gaz – 5 points

2015 scoreboard
Leslie Gompf – 180 points
Jonet “Zola” Greene – 88 points
Jesper Sandberg – 41 points
Kelly Brickner – 11 points
Spike Page – 5 points

"Eldfjallanördást" may or may not even be a proper Icelandic word. "Eldfjall" translates to "Fire Mountain, and "nördást" is literally "nerd-love" and if eldfjallafræði is volcanology, then this blog is volcanogeekery.

I am not a volcanologist..or geologist... or even a college graduate. I am just a person who has always been interested in volcanoes. But since finding a group of like-minded enthusiasts following the Bardarbunga eruption online, my flicker of interest has kind of exploded into a full-blown pursuit. Being that I am a self-identifying nerd, I feel it is my duty to inspire others to become as passionate about volcanoes as I am...or else annoy them into submission. :)

I invented the Virtual Volcano Vacation challenge after downloading Google Earth. I was zooming around the globe and decided to drop in on Mount Vesuvius..but was a little surprised to find myself virtually inside the crater. I had not reckoned on Google Earth's maps being quite so detailed. After posting a screen-grab to my Facebook wall and seeing who could guess where I was, I decided to make it a weekly event...and the best part of all is that each week I challenge myself to learn interesting facts about another volcano.

In addition to the Virtual Volcano Vacation challenge, I will occasionally post time-lapse videos made by others or myself, and repost other more obscure or whimsical content that probably gets overlooked by the more scholarly volcano blogs.