Vulkaan in Nicaragua barst na 110 jaar weer uit

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Nicaragua's Momotombo volcano has just erupted for the first time in 110 years

Nicaragua's largest volcano, Momotombo, has started erupting for the first time since 1905, and it's putting on one hell of a show. Schools in the region have been evacuated, but fortunately for now the hot rock and ash "are heading toward very sparsely populated areas," says government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo.

Locals had reported feeling tremors in the region the past few weeks, and on Monday night the volcano blasted a plume of ash about 1,000 metres high. It was a strombolian eruption – volcanic activity that produces a range of continuous small explosions – and it produced a beautiful lava fountain, complete with glowing rocks tumbling down the slopes.

Since then, the volcano has continued to belch out gas and ash. Scientists still don't understand what makes volcanoes go silent for hundreds or thousands of years before waking up again, but there's evidence that this current eruption has been building since around 2003. As volcanologist Erik Klemetti from Denison University writes for Wired:

"As recently as 2003-2011, the volcano experienced a series of small seismic swarms that suggested magma moving in the system beneath the volcano. In 2007, the hydrothermal system in the summit crater began to heat as well, so this eruption may be the culmination of over a decade’s worth of priming in the magmatic system."

It's not the only active volcano in South America right now, with Fuego and Santiaguito in Guatemala both experiencing moderate eruptions. Nicaragua's Telica volcano has also had a restless 2015, with minor eruptive activity.

Volcán Momotombo en erupción

Volcán momotombo expulsa lava

Explosion Volcan Momotombo 1 de diciembre 2015