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Today's featured article

Guallatiri

Guallatiri is a stratovolcano in Chile that is 6,060–6,071 m (19,880–19,918 ft) high. It is located southwest of, or possibly within, the Nevados de Quimsachata volcanic group. The summit, surrounded by numerous fumaroles, may be a lava dome or volcanic plug, while the lower flanks of the volcano are covered by lava flows and lava domes. The volcano's eruptions have produced mostly dacite along with andesite and rhyolite. Past glaciation has left moraines on Guallatiri. A large eruption took place approximately 2,600 years ago. Guallatiri has been active since prehistoric times, with the latest known eruption in 1960. Fumarolic and seismic activity is ongoing and has resulted in the deposition of sulfur and other minerals on the volcano. It is covered by an ice cap above 5,500–5,800 m (18,000–19,000 ft) elevation that has retreated and broken up into separate ice bodies. Part of Lauca National Park, Guallatiri is monitored by the Chilean National Geology and Mining Service. (Full article...)

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Flooding in Bahrain
Flooding in Bahrain

On this day...

April 19: Feast day of Saint Alphege of Canterbury (Catholicism, Anglicanism), Education and Sharing Day in the United States (2024), Primrose Day in London

Mae West
Mae West
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Today's featured picture

Picea omorika

Picea omorika, commonly known as the Pančić spruce or the Serbian spruce, is a species of coniferous tree endemic to the valley of the Drina in western Serbia, and eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a total range of only about 60 hectares (150 acres) at altitudes of 800 to 1,600 metres (2,625 to 5,249 ft). The species was originally discovered near the Serbian village of Zaovine on Mount Tara in 1875, and named by the Serbian botanist Josif Pančić. It is a medium-sized evergreen tree that generally grows to a height of around 20 metres (66 ft), with a trunk diameter of up to 1 metre (3 ft). It has buff-brown shoots with dense hair coverage and needle-like leaves. Its cones are fusiform in shape and grow to a length of 4 to 7 centimetres (2 to 3 in). They are dark purple when young, maturing to dark brown, and have stiff scales. This young female P. omorika cone, with a length of 22 millimetres (0.87 in), was photographed near Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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