Floating House of Fogo
March 10, 2015
Photographer: Marc Szeglat
Summary Authors: Marc Szeglat; Stu Witmer
Fogo means fire in Portuguese and that’s an appropriate name for this particular island. The entire island is a single stratovolcano above the hotspot that creates the Cape Verde archipelago as the African Plate moves east. The most recent eruption began on November 23, 2014. A week later, when the photo above was taken, lava had flowed through the Cha das Caldeiras area and destroyed the village of Portale. The house seen here was snapped from its foundations by a lava flow and floated along as if it were on a conveyor belt. For a better understanding of the movement of the house watch this video.
Photo details: Camera Maker: Panasonic; Camera Model: DMC-GH4; Focal Length: 54.0mm (35mm equivalent: 108mm); Aperture: ƒ/6.3; Exposure Time: 0.020 s (1/50); ISO equiv: 200.