Azores: Faial Island – Volcanoes
Like all the Azores islands, Faial is volcanic. It is the westernmost island still lying on the submerging European plateau, so technically it is the westernmost point in Europe. The dominant feature of the island is the central caldera, a massive crater 700 meter in diameter of an old volcano. Even more spectacular is the Capulin volcano in the west, this thing just erupted in 1957 and added 3 sq km of new land to Faial. It was a violent eruption lasting 2 years with lava flows, lava fountains, a lava lake, and tons of ash. A lot of people left Faial when it happened.
