he ground shakes. Suddenly, it


cracks open under my feet. I grab my camera and jump away. Hot lava shoots out of the crack. Whew! T at was close. I’m used to close calls like this.


I’m a photographer for National Geographic. I go all over the world. Sometimes I go to dangerous places. I love to go to volcanoes and see lava. Lava starts as magma deep under


Earth’s crust. Pressure caused by gases under the surface forces the magma up. Magma erupts as lava. T e lava


cools and hardens. New lava covers it. Over time, lava layers pile up. T at’s what builds volcanoes. I’ve explored a lot of volcanoes.


My favorite one might surprise you. It’s not the most dangerous one. Still, it may be the strangest volcano on this planet.


Getting There My team and I are in Africa. We are driving across a valley. We reach a dry riverbed. Now the ride gets bumpy. Bang! T e truck blows a tire. We


get out to fix it. We’re on the lookout for any sudden storms. A storm could cause a flash flood and wash us away.


12 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Magma Rising In this valley, two pieces of Earth’s crust are slowly pulling apart. T is creates a riſt , or gap. Sometimes bubbling magma breaks through. We fix the tire and get back on the


road. At last, we see the volcano. It began erupting 700,000 years ago. It has erupted many times since then. Each time, it spilled out a new layer of lava and ash. Each time, it grew taller.


This volcano in Tanzania looks like a pyramid. It’s called a stratovolcano.


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