Between 1943 and 1952 something strange and amazing happened. A volcano rose up out of a cornfield in Mexico like the world's most terrifying vegetable (or grain or fruit, your call). Within a day, the volcano was 164 feet tall. Within a week it had doubled in size. Over the next year, Paricutin, which is a scoria-cone volcano, grew to 1,100 feet and then continued to gradually gain another 290 feet over the next eight years.
According to Oregon State, Paricutin sent lava over an area of about 10 square miles and damaged nearly 150 square miles of the surrounding area, including the towns of San Juan Parangaricutiro and Paricutin. It continued to erupt for a total of nine years, then it spent around six months in what could only be described as death throes — a series of violent explosions that finally ceased in 1952. Paricutin is now considered dormant.
Paricutin is remarkable because it was the first time that the scientific community was able to see the birth, life, and death of a volcano. During the first five years of the eruption, scientists produced more than 50 publications about Paricutin, and it's still providing scientists with information decades after it finally went quiet.
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