Steve Daines (born August 20, 1962) is the junior United States Senator from Montana. He is a member of the U.S. Republican Party and has been in Senate since January 3, 2015. He was in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015.
Daines was born on August 20, 1962 in Van Nuys, California. He graduated from the Montana State University, Bozeman. He is married to Cindy Daines. They have four children.
Shanghai Tower
The Shanghai Tower () is a , 128-story megatall skyscraper in Shanghai. As of 2015, it is the world's tallest building, by height to highest usable floor (Level 121: 561.25m).
It also has the world's highest observation deck within a building or structure (Level 121, 561.25 m), and the world's fastest elevators at a top speed of 20.5 m/s (74 km/h).
It is the world's second-tallest building by height to architectural top (behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa, 828 m) and the world's third-tallest structure (behind Tokyo Skytree, 634 m).
Designed by international design firm Gensler and owned by the Shanghai city government, it is the tallest of the world's first triple-adjacent super-tall buildings in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Its tiered construction, designed for high energy efficiency, provides nine separate zones divided between office, retail and leisure use.
Construction work on the tower began in November 2008 and topped out on 3 August 2013. The exterior was completed in summer 2015, and work was considered complete in September 2015. Although the building was originally scheduled to open to the public in November 2014, the actual public-use date slipped considerably. The observation deck was opened to visitors in July 2016; the period from July through September 2016 was termed a "test run" or "commissioning" period.
Volcanoes of South America
The volcanoes of South America are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Most of them are along the backbone of the Andes.
The Andes, together with the volcanoes, has been produced by the movement of the Americas towards the west. This has been happening for a long time, certainly 60 million years or more. This continental drift leads to subduction of oceanic plates beneath the continental plates of the land mass. In turn, this produced the mountain ranges (orogeny) and the volcanic activity.
KSi visited south Columbia volcano
A rather different cause is at work on the Galápagos Islands. There, a hotspot under the plate caused the islands and their volcanoes to rise up from the sea floor.
The country of Bolivia hosts numerous active and extinct volcanoes across its territory. The active volcanoes are located in western Bolivia where they make up the western limit of the Altiplano plateau. Many of the active volcanoes are international mountains shared with Chile. Apart from Andean volcanoes, Bolivia has the remnants of ancient volcanoes around the Precambrian Guaporé Shield in the eastern part of the country.
Earthquake activity in Chile is related to subduction of the Nazca Plate to the east. Chile notably holds the record for the largest earthquake ever recorded, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Villarrica, one of Chile's most active volcanoes, rises above Villarrica Lake and the town of Villarrica. It is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes that trend perpendicular to the Andean chain. A 6-km wide caldera formed during the late Pleistocene, >0.9 million years ago.
The Llaima Volcano is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Chile. It is situated 82 km northeast of Temuco and 663 km southeast of Santiago, within the borders of Conguillío National Park. Llaima’s activity has been documented since the 17th century, and consists of several separate episodes of moderate explosive eruptions with occasional lava flows. The last major eruption occurred in 1994.
Chile has experienced numerous volcanic eruptions from 60 volcanoes, including Llaima Volcano and the Chaitén Volcano.
Lascar Volcano is a stratovolcano, the most active volcano of the northern Chilean Andes. The largest eruption of Lascar took place about 26,500 years ago. Frequent small-to-moderate explosive eruptions have been recorded from Lascar in historical times since the mid-19th century.
Villarrica, is one of only five volcanoes worldwide known to have an active lava lake inside its crater. The volcano usually generates strombolian eruptions, with ejection of fiery pyroclasts and lava flows. Melting of snow and glacier ice as well as rainfalls often cause massive lahars (mud and debris flows), such as during the eruptions of 1964 and 1971.
Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, about south of Quito, Ecuador, South America. It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of . Some consider it the world's highest active volcano. Others give this status to the much higher Llullaillaco, which most recently erupted in 1877 and is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Since 1738, Cotopaxi has erupted more than 50 times, resulting in the creation of numerous valleys formed by lahars (mudflows) around the volcano.
In October 1999, Pichincha Volcano erupted in Quito and covered the city with several inches of ash. Before that, the last major eruptions were in 1553 and in 1660, when about 30 cm of ash fell on the city.
At 5230 meters, Sangay Volcano is an active [stratovolcano] in central Ecuador. It is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world and one of Ecuador's most active ones, erupting three times in recorded history. It shows mostly Strombolian activity. The most recent eruption, which started in 1934, is still ongoing. Geologically, Sangay marks the southern bound of the Northern Volcanic Zone, and its position straddling two major pieces of crust accounts for its high level of activity. Sangay's approximately 500,000 year old history is one of instability. Two previous versions of the mountain were destroyed in massive flank collapses, evidence of which still litters its surroundings today. Sangay is one of two active volcanoes located in the namesake Sangay National Park, the other being Tungurahua to the north. The Park has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.
Reventador is an active stratovolcano which lies in the eastern Andes of Ecuador. Since 1541 it has erupted over 25 times with most recent eruption in 2009, but the largest historical eruption occurred in 2002. During that eruption the plume from the volcano reached a height of 17 km and pyroclastic flows went up to 7 km from the cone. On March 30, 2007, the mountain spewed ash again. The ash reached a height of about two miles (3 km, 11,000 ft). No injuries or damages have been reported.
The Galápagos Islands are an isolated set of volcanoes, consisting of shield volcanoes and lava plateaus, west of Ecuador. They are driven by the Galápagos hotspot, and are between 4.2 million and 700,000 years of age. The largest island, Isabela Island, consists of six coalesced shield volcanoes, each delineated by a large summit caldera. Española, the oldest island, and Fernandina, the youngest, are also shield volcanoes, as are most of the other islands in the chain. The Galápagos Islands are perched on a large lava plateau known as the Galápagos Platform. This platform creates a shallow water depth of at the base of the islands, which stretch over a -long diameter.
Since Charles Darwin's famous visit to the islands in 1835, there have been over 60 recorded eruptions in the islands, from six different shield volcanoes. Of the 21 emergent volcanoes, 13 are considered active.