The Volcano That Spews BLUE Lava!

This volcano in Kawah Ijen has some spectacular blue lava by night, but shows red during the day. It is the sulphur inside the volcano that causes the change in color.

These pictures are gorgeous! I wanted to share them with the ATS community.

At first glance you might think the otherworldly light in these pictures comes from a nebula or another planet deep in outer space.
In fact it is made by burning sulphur which pours from the side of the Kawah Ijen volcano on planet Earth, which is part of the Ijen volcano complex in East Java, Indonesia.
Miners have run ceramic pipes from vents in the side of the mountain to collection points inside a large crater where the molten chemical is left to cool before being broken up and carried away.

The blue waves of lava can reach up to five feet in height! WOW!

Photographer Olivier Grunewald, who captured some of these amazing shots, had to wear a gas mask during his expedition into the crater, and lost two lenses and a camera while trying to capture the mysterious pictures.

Anyone know what this guy is saying? LOL Beautiful footage, even if I don't understand him.



www.dailymail.co.uk...

Post a source please


nvm



another link


pretty s and f

reply to post by Indigent


It's at the bottom of the page.

reply to post by Indigent


OMG!!! Those are AWESOME!!! Thank you so much for that link!

reply to post by sled735


That must be really, really hot. What happens when we see white lava? Does that just melt the rock? It would be pretty cool if somehow it could be harnessed. Maybe develop some type of geothermal capture device? Seems doable if a guy can get close enough to take pictures.

Anyways, awesome pics.

ETA: I just read the other link and it isn't even that hot. The color effect is from lighting the sulfur that burns at 212 F. I'd let my mac&cheese turn that color cuz it would be cool. Still pretty awesome what happens in our world.

dfens
reply to post by sled735

 

That must be really, really hot. What happens when we see white lava? Does that just melt the rock? It would be pretty cool if somehow it could be harnessed. Maybe develop some type of geothermal capture device? Seems doable if a guy can get close enough to take pictures.

Anyways, awesome pics.

nothing to do with temperature, just the sulphur.

reply to post by sled735


Thank you, I've never heard of this before, much less seen it. Blue lava, whodathunkit. Very sweet.

Wow, this is beautiful. Never seen the likes. Thanks for the post. Someone has a new desktop background.

Gorgeous pictures! I'd never heard of such a thing; what a magical world we live in!
S&F

reply to post by sled735


Thanks for introducing me to my new wallpaper!

If memory serves me correctly, that is not just sulfur that is burning, rather it is possible that it is one of several toxic compounds that are mixed with the lava that is causing the blue color. For years it has been seen and known that different minerals will burn different colors due to minerals in them. So chances are it is one of the heavy metals that is in large concentrations, probably lead, or copper, or arsenic that is causing the flames to burn blue. It is still pretty and different, and nice to see for a change.

reply to post by sled735


Thats amazing-never heard or seen anything like it-At first I thought it was done using an IR filter or similar,but you can see the rocks are showing up normal tones so its not trickery of the camera.
Those dudes are either seriously committed to their art-or they are crazy...
Would you go to sleep next to an active caldera with a gas mask on?
I would be reluctant to myself.

reply to post by sled735


F&S Great find!

I've been to Hawaii's volcano national park, (Kilauea) where I witnessed sulfur vents up close. I also hiked out onto the lava fields near Hilo to see and photograph the ongoing red hot lava flow into the ocean. On a different trip, my wife & I even rode mountain bikes down from the top of Haleakala on Maui, (6,500 ft. dormant volcano) where it was about 20 degrees and snow covered, 28 miles down to a sunny 80 degree beach, but I've never seen anything like this.

Blue lava? Just amazing!

Thanks posting here for all to see.

This gives the blue planet a different meaning.
Inside the earth it is.....Blue!

Let the theory begins

reply to post by sled735


Gorgeous. ...Shouldn't we see lava of all different colours, like stars? Depending on the dominant chemical that's burning. ...I can hope.

F&S&

Amazing almost if you're walking alien grounds. very courageous to take pictures so close..

NullVoid
This gives the blue planet a different meaning.
Inside the earth it is.....Blue!

Let the theory begins

There is nothing to theorize about, molten sulfur emits blue flame

When burned, sulfur melts to a blood-red liquid and emits a blue flame that is best observed in the dark.

Sulfur

The pictures are not really from the volcano lava but from a sulfur mine in the volcano

That's one thing I love about ATS, I get to see and learn about things I've never seen or heard of before. Thanks for sharing!!

Maybe the lava contained a lot of arsenic.lead or antimony salts.
These are elements that colour flames blue.

Flame Test (Chemistry)


Just red that from "indigent" with the Sulfur.
Of course he is right,.. i totally forgot sulfur.
Thats much more likelier than the ones i mentioned
Sulfur instead of arsenic,lead etc..
I didn`t read all the answers to the thread.

reply to post by D0MiNAT0R 1OOO


Its the sulfur, why people ignore lizards