Laacher See, Germany

Many geologic meeting include, not surprisingly, great field trips. When I attended the 2007 Goldschmidt meeting held in Cologne, Germany, I was able to visit the Laacher See. This inocuous-looking lake in western Germany was the source of one of the largest eruptions in continental Europe over the last 15,000 years. The massive ~12,900 year old eruption from the Laacher See spread ash over much of central Europe and the small carbon dioxide seeps found along the edge of the lake betray the still-active magmatic system underneath the volcano (but no, Laacher See is not "ready to blow".)

Fondest memory: Watching Gernard Worner wade to his knees to sample volcano gases with an improvised sampling device (as known as a soda bottle).

Image: Landsat image from September 27, 2011. USGS/NASA.