Galapagos Islands: Equatorial E. Pacific.

Seahorse-shaped Isabella and more rounded Fernandina are volcanic islands generated by a mantle hotspot offshore from Ecuador. The hotspot rises at the junction of the Cocos oceanic plate on the north and the Nazca plate on the south and east. Volcanic craters on Isabella are aligned along a north-trending fault of the plate boundary system. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Most of the largest island in the Galapagos group, Isla Isabela, stretches across the middle of the view. The circular feature on this island at the bottom of the view is Volcano Wolf (1707 m in altitude). Volcano Darwin (1280 m) is the next volcano above and to the left, partly ringed with cloud. The single island top right is Isla Fernandina, the top of another volcano (1547 m). Recent lava flows appear as darker surfaces and the older surfaces appear green, as a result of unusual rains and vegetation greening in this normally arid part of the world. The Equator passes exactly through Volcano Wolf, roughly left to right (north is towards the bottom of the view).

Photo and caption thanks to:
Earth Sciences and Image Analysis, NASA-Johnson Space Center. 30 Apr. 2003. "Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record." http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS109&roll=718&frame=102.

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South America from Space Photo Gallery

South America Photo Gallery