These amazing images were shot by Olivier Grunewald at the sulfur mine in the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano in East Java, Indonesia.

“A sulfur miner stands inside the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano at night, holding a torch, looking towards a flow of liquid sulfur which has caught fire and burns with an eerie blue flame.”







“Flaming molten sulfur flows inside the volcanic crater. Sulfur will melt at just above 100 C (212 F), but the temperatures in the crater do not get high enough for spontaneous combustion - the fires are lit by the miner’s dripping torches.”







“Molten sulfur burns after it drips from stone and ceramic pipes that have condensed the sulfuric gases from the volcano into a liquid, depositing it to cool and harden for later retrieval.”







“A formation caused by liquid sulfur flow inside the crater of Kawah Ijen. When molten, sulfur appears nearly blood red, as it cools, it becomes more and more yellow.”







“A miner works on a block of sulfur, to fit it into the baskets used to carry the mineral out of the volcano.”







“A miner weighs his load at the local mining office. Miners will make this trip two or three times a day, with typical earnings of approximately $13.00 US per day.”

To view even more of this awesome images, and to see images of the local sulfur processing, visit Boston.com.





