Pico do Fogo

Pico do Fogo ("Fire peak") is the highest peak of Cape Verde, rising to  above sea level. It is an active stratovolcano lying on the island of Fogo. The last eruption of the main volcanic cone was in 1675 and all the people living in the island had to leave.

A lateral vent (the opening of a volcano from which lava flows) erupted in 1995. The only deadly eruption was in 1847 when earthquakes produced in all the island claimed several lives. Volcanic lava has reached the eastern coast of the island in historical times.

Its most spectacular feature is a volcanic crater (or caldera, caldeira in Portuguese) that is about  wide, with a border (bordeira in Portuguese) that is about  high. The crater has a slit in its eastern wall, and a large peak like a volcanic cone rises in its center that. The central cone is the highest point of the island (2829 m) and its peak is about 100 m higher than the bordeira that surrounds the crater.

The lowest elevation of the floor of the caldeira, known as Chã das Caldeiras ("Plain of the Calderas") is . There are, within the caldeira, two villages which were evacuated during the last eruption. Traditionally, grapes are grown on the inner slopes of the bordeira and there is some subsistence agriculture on the caldeira floor.

The mountain's slopes are used to grow coffee, while its lava is used as building material.

The Fea's petrel (Pterodroma feae), a Near Threatened species of bird, breeds in this mountain.

The endemic plants Echium vulcanorum and Erysimum caboverdeanum are only known to occur on the outer rim of the volcano.


References

Other websites

 Fogo, Cape Verde Islands at NASA Earth Observatory
 Observatório Vulcanológico de Cabo Verde (OVCV) 

Category:Volcanoes of Africa
Category:Geography of Cape Verde