Lawrence Clark, age 14, of Shrevepo , La. ,, for his question:

Old Andy had to take a turn or two around the world to answer this question, which is a tough one, He swooped over Popocatepetl and was sure that its crater, two and a half miles wide, must be the biggest, But the smouldering crater of Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii is almost four miles wide. We might expect this, the crater of the world 1s bulkiest volcano to be the biggest.

But the largest known active crater is at the top of Asosanp a mile high volcano on Kyushu, the most southerly island of the four main islands of Japan, This great smokey crater is ten miles wide and 15 miles long. All these active craters are subject to change without notice. For a volcano changes its shape with each eruption.