Volcano Live

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

0.32 N, 89.958 W
summit elevation 64 m
shield volcano

Genovesa volcano is located in the NE Galapagos Islands. The volcano forms a low island with a summit elevation of 64 m. Genovesa Island is located 50 km south of the Galapagos spreading center.

The island covers and area of 17 sq km and rises to a summit of only 64 m above sea level. It is one of the smallest volcanoes in the Galapagos. Genovesa rises 1600 m from its submarine base, and has a total volume of 1.4 cubic km.

Lake Arctulus is located at the volcano summit.

Geology of Genovesa Island
Unlike other volcanic rocks from the Galapagos Islands, Genovesa lavas exhibit no geochemical evidence for contributions from the mantle plume source. Instead, Genovesa basalts are nearly identical to common Mid Ocean Ridge Basalts.

Genovesa is almost indistinguishable from a near-ridge seamount, and is not a product of the Galapagos hotspot plume.

Young-looking lava flows suggest a recent eruption, but no eruptions have been dated.

Further reading
Harpp, Karen S., et al. "Genovesa Submarine Ridge: A manifestation of plume‐ridge interaction in the northern Galápagos Islands." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 4.9 (2003).

Harpp, K.S., Wirth, K.R. and Korich, D.J., 2002. Northern Galápagos Province: hotspot-induced, near-ridge volcanism at Genovesa Island. Geology, 30(5), pp.399-402.