The Santa Maria ship sank after hitting reefs off the Haitian coast around Christmas of 1492, months after arriving from Spain. Further evidence dated the wreck from the 17th century, three hundred years after Columbus. From the base of the domes, the alternating layers of lava flows and pyroclastic flow deposits are clearly exposed in the walls of the 1902 eruption crater in the cone of Santa MarÃa. In 2014, explorers believed they found it off the coast of Haiti. The crews of his ships became restless and some argued that a return to Spain was in order. From 1972-1975, both Caliente and El Brujo (the domes on either end of the complex) were active at the same time, producing lava flows, pyroclastic flows, and ash-and-gas eruptions. Magnetic data suggests that most of the growth occurred during a 1000 to 3000 year period prior to 25,000 years ago, although more accurate dates are not yet available. The cone-building period was followed by a long period of quiescence interrupted by occasional small-volume lava flows from flank vents. The oldest lava flows that make up the volcano are ~30,000 years old, but there are few dates for younger deposits. Columbus had expected the voyage to take four weeks, but that deadline came and went without sighting land. On October 10, Columbus struck a deal with his men: if no land was found in the next three days, they would turn back for Spain. Map by Geology.com and MapResources.Plate tectonics map for Central America showing the convergence of the Cocos and Caribbean Plates responsible for Central American volcanism. Santa MarÃa Volcano with the Santiaguito lava dome complex in the foreground. A replica of the Santa Maria, the flagship of the Italian explorer's 1492 expedition It lasted for several weeks, created an 0.5 kmIn 1922, new seismic activity heralded the eruption of a single dacitic lava dome in the 1902 crater. Christopher Columbus - Christopher Columbus - The first voyage: The ships for the first voyage—the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María—were fitted out at Palos, on the Tinto River in Spain. The dome tends to erupt in this fashion every few hours, making it one of the best places to safely view an explosive volcanic eruption. It is believed that Columbus ordered some of the ship’s timbers stripped from the wreck in order to build a fort on land near the shore. Image copyright Jessica Ball. "I am confident that a full excavation of the wreck will yield the first-ever detailed marine archaeological evidence of Columbus' discovery of America," he added.Mr Clifford said he identified the potential location of the Santa Maria through earlier archaeological findings that pinpointed a likely location for Columbus's fort - a building that experts always thought was erected near to where the ship ran aground.He also used information from the explorer's diary, and a recent diving mission near the site further burnished Mr Clifford's belief the wreck was the Santa Maria. She also writes the Small pyroclastic flows usually do not travel far beyond the domes, but large ones can flow many miles downstream and cause considerable damage. Santa MarÃa, a stratovolcano in the volcanic highlands of southwestern Simplified plate tectonics cross-section showing how Santa Maria Volcano is located above a subduction zone formed where the Cocos and Caribbean plates collide.Map showing the location of Santa Maria Volcano in southwestern Guatemala. Arrows show generalized directions of plate movement. The slopes of El Caliente are scoured by rockfalls and pyroclastic flows, but the inactive domes to the west are covered in lush vegetation. The owner of La Pinta was Cristóbal Quintero. There is no historical record of eruption at Santa MarÃa. The Santa Maria, along with the La Nina and La Pinta, were part of Columbus's expedition in 1492, which explored islands in the Caribbean in an attempt to find a westward passage to Asia. A several-meter-thick deposit of pumice and lava fragments from the 1902 eruption is overlain by even thicker mudflows in this river channel south of Santiaguito. Anaerobic decomposition of the waste in the landfill generates landfill gas, which is primarily a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. The New World was first sighted by Rodrigo de Triana aboard La Pinta on 12 October 1492. While the main cone of Santa MarÃa is no longer active, the domes of Santiaguito have created a number of The bulk of the domes were built by the extrusion of lava flows and spines, but the dacite lava is so viscous that it poses no immediate hazard on eruption. Red lines are plate boundaries. Image copyright Jessica Ball. It is situated on the southeast coast of the island of Hispaniola, at the mouth of the Ozama River, and is the oldest permanent city established by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. "All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus's famous flagship, the Santa Maria," said Mr Clifford. Image copyright Jessica Ball. The dome, initially named Santiaguito, grew quickly, reaching 0.2 kmFollowing this collapse, activity at Santiaguito began to move westward from the original vent (now called Caliente), eventually forming three more lava domes (La Mitad, El Monje, and El Brujo) by the 1960s. Her concentration is in volcanology, and she is currently researching lava dome collapses and pyroclastic flows. La Pinta (Spanish for The Painted One, The Look, or The Spotted One) was the fastest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first transatlantic voyage in 1492.