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Socompa is a large stratovolcano (composite volcano) on the border of Argentina and Chile. It has an elevation of 6,051 metres (19,852 ft) and is part of the Chilean and Argentine Andean Volcanic Belt. Socompa lies close to the pass of the same name where the Salta–Antofagasta railway crosses the border. Most of the northwestern slope of Socompa collapsed catastrophically 7,200 years ago to form an extensive debris avalanche deposit. The Socompa collapse is among the largest known on land with a volume of 19.2 cubic kilometres (4.6 cu mi) and a surface area of 490 square kilometres (190 sq mi). After the volcanic landslide, Socompa was rebuilt by the effusion of lava flows and much of the scar is now filled in. Socompa is also noteworthy for the high-altitude biotic communities that are bound to fumaroles on the mountain. They are well above the sparse regular vegetation in the region, which does not extend up the mountains. The climate on the mountain is cold and dry. (Full article...)

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Garamut from Papua New Guinea

... that different sounds drummed on the garamut (example pictured) can indicate the intended recipient?
... that the 11.7 million people of Papua New Guinea speak more than 800 languages?
... that the Papua New Guinean government almost ran out of foreign exchange reserves during a financial crisis in 1994?
... that the cavefish Oxyeleotris caeca is found in surface waters during the wet season?
... that changes in land use and forestry turned Papua New Guinea's contribution to climate change from being a net carbon sink to a net emitter?
... that communities around the Sirinumu Dam lack reliable access to electricity and drinking water?
... that Nancy Sullivan and ten other activists were sued by the Papua New Guinean government as retribution for opposing the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone?
... that the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates was intended to stop "yo-yo politics"?
... that inland fisheries in Papua New Guinea are used by more than half of people living in the mountainous Highlands Region?
... that a bay in Papua New Guinea is Goodenough?

In the news

Seth Rogen

In television, The Studio (lead actor Seth Rogen pictured) wins best comedy and The Pitt wins best drama at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
After widespread protests, Sushila Karki is appointed interim Prime Minister of Nepal, replacing K. P. Sharma Oli.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in a coup plot.
The observation of a black hole merger verifies the second law of black hole thermodynamics for the first time.

On this day

September 16: Malaysia Day in Malaysia (1963); Independence Day in Papua New Guinea (1975)

1839 British five-pound gold coin

1400 – Owain Glyndŵr proclaimed himself Prince of Wales, declaring that he could save the Welsh from English invasions.
1920 – A bomb in a horse-drawn wagon exploded in front of 23 Wall Street in New York City, killing 38 people and injuring several hundred others.
1975 – The prototype of the Soviet Mikoyan MiG-31, one of the fastest combat jets in the world, made its maiden flight.
1989 – During a tour of the United States, Soviet politician Boris Yeltsin visited a grocery store in Texas that had a major impact on his views regarding the Soviet Union's economic system.
1992 – The British pound (coin pictured) was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday and suffered a major devaluation.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (d. 1736)
Louis XVIII (d. 1824)
Lauren Bacall (b. 1924)
B. B. King (b. 1925)

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Today's featured picture

The Asaro Mudmen are a group of people in the Asaro River valley in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea who wear characteristic large decorative clay masks over their heads, accompanied by white body paint and long bamboo fingers. Likely inspired by traditional methods of obscuring faces during inter-tribal violence, researchers believe that the modern tradition of the Asaro Mudmen developed in the village of Komunive during the second half of the 20th century, first as a marker of village identity, and then as part of a significant tourism industry. Today, Mudmen imagery has become a cultural symbol for Asaro, the province, and to some extent the country as a whole. This Asaro Mudman carrying his clay mask on his shoulder was photographed in 2008 in the village of Kabiufa, part of the Asaro valley.

Photograph credit: Jialiang Gao

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