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Birth of Mexican volcano inspires scientists 80 years later

A church tower peeks above from where lava from the Paricutin volcano buried the church decades ago, in San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Paricutin’s lava eventually covered seven square miles (18.5 square kilometers). Its slow advance allowed residents of the surrounding communities to relocate to land donated by the government. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

An altar, adorned with religious relics, stands inside the church buried decades ago by lava from the Paricutin volcano, in San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Paricutin’s lava eventually covered seven square miles (18.5 square kilometers). Its slow advance allowed residents of the surrounding communities to relocate to land donated by the government. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A group belonging to an international vulcanology congress rest on the crater lip of the Paricutin volcano, in Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. The crater of the volcano is about 200 meters across and it is possible to both climb the volcano and walk around the entire perimeter. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

People walk around the crater lip of the Paricutin volcano, in Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. The crater of the volcano is about 200 meters across and it is possible to both climb the volcano and walk around the entire perimeter. (AP Photo/Fernanda Pesce)

A church tower peeks above from where lava from the Paricutin volcano buried the church decades ago, in San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Paricutin’s lava eventually covered seven square miles (18.5 square kilometers). Its slow advance allowed residents of the surrounding communities to relocate to land donated by the government. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Guadalupe Ruiz, 92, walks inside her home in San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Ruiz, 92, remembers a deep sound from Feb. 20, 1943, after weeks of small tremors in the western part of Mexico’s Michoacan state. Then, it felt “like water rising underground,” and, finally in the following days, it was “like a thunderclap or a kick from a horse” as Paricutin’s cone began to form and rocks fell all around, she said. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A girl looks at an exhibit displaying historical photos of the Paricutin volcano marking the initial day of the nine-year eruption, in San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. A team of geologists from the U.S. Department of the Interior and Mexican scientists visited the site 20 times in the ensuing years and summarized the nine-year eruption in a report more than a decade later. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Abel Aguilar, center left, and his wife attend the celebration marking the birth of the Paricutin volcano, in San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Aguilar was 5-years-old when the Paricutin erupted for the first time. He would come with other children to “see the lava walk like that, real slow.” He said. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Geologists, volcanologists and seismologists walk on an old lava flow towards the crater of the Paricutin volcano, in Angahuan, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Paricutin’s birth in Feb. 20, 1943 and nine-year eruption were a cornerstone in the study of what are known as monogenetic volcanos, said Stavros Meletlidis, a Greek researcher at Spain’s National Geographic Institute. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A view of the Paricutin volcano crater, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. The ground is still hot atop the crater of Paricutin, the first volcano of its kind to have its full life cycle documented by modern science when it erupted 80 years ago. (AP Photo/Fernanda Pesce)

Residents celebrate the birth of the Paricutin volcano, in San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Monday, Feb 20, 2023. The nine-year eruption began on Feb. 20, 1943. The center of the activity was a cornfield near the town of Paricutin. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Residents observe a small replica of Paricutin volcano eruption, during celebrations marking the starting date of the nine-year eruption, in San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. A year and a half after the Paricutin eruption began, residents of the largest area town of San Juan left the community in a procession behind the image of their patron saint and rebuilt their town and church elsewhere. The old town was later buried in 50 feet (15 meters) of lava. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A church tower peeks above from where lava from the Paricutin volcano buried the church decades ago, in San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Paricutin’s lava eventually covered seven square miles (18.5 square kilometers). Its slow advance allowed residents of the surrounding communities to relocate to land donated by the government. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Birth of Mexican volcano inspires scientists 80 years later