Paricutin Grew Hundreds of Feet in a Week

A cone-shaped volcano, at least, has a shape that somewhat reveals how it arises. It resembles a pimple on the Earth's surface that has broken through the crust. As strange as that metaphor may sound, the Paricutin volcano did a great job of illustrating it.

Paricutin, which is around 200 miles from Mexico City, is not an old volcano like many others. It began to form in 1943, essentially in front of the farmer whose property it first appeared on. Prior to the eruption of the volcano, there had been a lot of seismic activity in the area. The farmer went outside on February 20, 1943, to burn some brush. A sound was heard and a break in the ground was visible.

A crack in the ground caught his attention, and he also heard thunder. A few meters of ash and debris started to rise from the earth. Then came smoke and steam. The volcano had grown to a height of 50 meters by day's end. It had tripled in size by the end of the week.

• Location: Mexico