Volcanoes & Lakes
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Nicaragua has about forty volcanoes, a half dozen of which are usually active at any time, whether venting light, constant clouds of gas or actually erupting.
The most active volcanoes are Momotombo, San Cristobal and Telica, all of which tremble and emit plumes of poisonous gases, smoke and occasionally lava.
La Isla de Ometepe's Volcan Concepcion last blew its top in 2005 and 2007. The other half of Ometepe is Volcan Maderas which sleeps, its crater drowned in a deep lagoon that feeds a thriving jungle.
Volcan Telica, just north of Leon, erupts approximately every five years.
Neighboring Cerro Negro is one of the youngest volcanoes on the planet: It protruded through a farmer's field in the middle of the 1800s and has since grown in size, steadily and violently, to a height of 1200 feet.
Volcan Mombacho, a dormant volcano whose explosion and self-destruction is thought to have formed at the archipelago of islets in Lake Cocibolca.
All this volcanic activity is responsible for the exceptional fertility of Nicaragua's soils.
The most active volcanoes are Momotombo, San Cristobal and Telica, all of which tremble and emit plumes of poisonous gases, smoke and occasionally lava.
La Isla de Ometepe's Volcan Concepcion last blew its top in 2005 and 2007. The other half of Ometepe is Volcan Maderas which sleeps, its crater drowned in a deep lagoon that feeds a thriving jungle.
Volcan Telica, just north of Leon, erupts approximately every five years.
Neighboring Cerro Negro is one of the youngest volcanoes on the planet: It protruded through a farmer's field in the middle of the 1800s and has since grown in size, steadily and violently, to a height of 1200 feet.
Volcan Mombacho, a dormant volcano whose explosion and self-destruction is thought to have formed at the archipelago of islets in Lake Cocibolca.
All this volcanic activity is responsible for the exceptional fertility of Nicaragua's soils.
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Two lakes, Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua) and Xolotlan (Lake Managua), dominate Nicaragua's geography, occupying together nearly 10% of the country's surface area.
Lake Managua is shallow with an average depth of only 21 feet. It reaches its deepest - 78 feet - near the island of Momotombito.
Lake Nicaragua is, for the most part, biologically dead, after a century of untreated human waste and extensive dumping of industrial wastes during the 1970s, including lead, cyanide, benzene, mercury and arsenic.
Lake Managua is shallow with an average depth of only 21 feet. It reaches its deepest - 78 feet - near the island of Momotombito.
Lake Nicaragua is, for the most part, biologically dead, after a century of untreated human waste and extensive dumping of industrial wastes during the 1970s, including lead, cyanide, benzene, mercury and arsenic.
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The water of Ojo de Agua has a special quality as the pools are filled with thermal spring water from an underground well at the bottom of the upper pool. A continuous stream of fresh water flows through the pools which are almost 6 feet deep.
It is one of a very few fresh, clean water sources.
It is one of a very few fresh, clean water sources.