Paricutin Volcano in Its Early Stage

ID: SIA2009-0858

Creator: Foshag, William F

Form/Genre: Photographic print

Date: March 24, 1943

Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7281, Box 7, Folder: Photographs of Parícutin #F2-#F14, 1943

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Summary

Image of the development of the Paricutin volcano with heavy smoke escaping from the cone.

Subject

National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

  • Image was taken by William F. Foshag, a curator of minerals at the United States National Museum, now known as the National Museum of Natural History, while researching the development of the Paricutin volcano.
  • The Paricutin volcano erupted from 1943 to 1952 with several eruptive phases. In early 1943, residents near Paricutin, Mexico, about 200 miles west of Mexico City, experienced hundreds of earthquakes. On February 20, 1943, a large fissure opened in the corn field of Dionisio and Paula Pulido, Tarascan Indians. A crater soon formed, and over the next ten years, hundreds of scientists from around the world witnessed the birth and growth of a volcano. Foshag, from the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, and Dr. Jenaro Gonzalez Reyna from the Mexican government, spent several years at the site, observing and documenting it through field notebooks, photographs, and films. This was the first time that volcanologists were able to fully document the entire life cycle of a volcano, and the numerous studies published increased understanding of volcanism in general and especially scoria cone formation.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7281, Box 7, Folder: Photographs of Parícutin #F2-#F14, 1943

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

March 24, 1943

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Volcanologists
  • Scientific expeditions
  • Earth Sciences
  • Landscapes
  • Geology
  • Natural History
  • Explorations and Expeditions
  • Volcanoes
  • Volcanism
  • Parícutin Volcano
  • Earth sciences
  • Volcanoes--Mexico
  • Natural history

Place

Mexico

Form/Genre

  • Photographic print
  • Landscape

ID Number

SIA2009-0858

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: 4w x 5h; Type of Image: Landscape; Medium: Photographic print

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