Volcano Live

Isabela Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

0.02 S, 91.546 W
summit elevation 790 m
shield volcano

Volcan Ecuador is located on the equator at the NW end of Isabela Island, Galapagos Islands. The volcano is the least active on the island.

Volcan Ecuador forms a peninsula extending westward from Volcan Wolf at the northern end of Isla Isabela. The volcano contains lava flows, spatter cones and small scoria cones. The western half of the volcano has been down faulted below sea level.

Volcan Ecuador differs from the other western Galapagos volcanoes in a number of ways: It is smaller and lacks the bimodal arrangement of radial and arcuate
vents. No eruptions have occurred since the archipelago was discovered in 1535. The volcano contains only one youthful scoria cone, there area group of pit craters aligned with the northeast rift zone.

Two features are identified in satellite images - the main volcano and the northeast rift zone.

Main Volcano
The main volcano is mostly light-toned with a surface consisting of vegetation and/or bare soil and weathered rock. The plateau is mostly featureless except for one large scoria cone and a line of pit craters. The top of the plateau slopes gently away from the caldera rim in all directions. About half of the caldera floor is covered by a single dark aa lava flow. Eighteen scoria cones are located in the caldera, with diameters from 200 to 300 m. The main volcano consists of outwardly dipping lavas, with no recent volcanic activity, with the possible exception of a single scoria cone.

Northeast Rift Zone
The northeast rift zone and Volcan Ecuador extends from the northeast flank of the main volcano toward Volcan Wolf. The rift zone forms a broad ridge about 7.5 km wide. About 10 km form the main volcano, the rift changes its orientation and narrows at a location about 2 km from contact with Volcan Wolf lavas. The northeast rift zone appears to have been active during the past few thousand years. The rift zone has features which resemble Hawaiian rifts, and is the only such feature in the Galapagos Islands.

Further reading
Chadwick, William W., and Keith A. Howard. "The pattern of circumferential and radial eruptive fissures on the volcanoes of Fernandina and Isabela islands, Galapagos." Bulletin of Volcanology 53.4 (1991): 259-275.