 Two members from our group, Michel from Belgium and filmmaker Michael from Canada watching and photo...  View from the lighthouse of Anyer to the coast of Java (Photo: Tobias Schorr)
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Altar
Volcano
El Altar is an extinct stratovolcano on the western side of Sangay National Park in Ecuador, 170 km south of Quito. Altar was last active about 2 million years ago and contains a caldera open to the west, which contains a lake.
A large rockslide caused fatalities in 2000. On 13 October 2000, a large block of andesitic breccia with a volumne of ca. 1.5 million m3 rock broke off from near the summit and slid 900 m down into a caldera lake. This impact caused a 50 m high tsunami which overflowed the caldera and produced a lahar, that killed 13 people
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Volcano type |
caldera (probably) extinct |
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Location |
Greece, 36.52°N / 25.49°E |
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Summit elevation |
5321 m / 17,457 ft |
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Altar volcano eruptions |
ca. 2 million years ago
landslide-caused tsunami in 2000
uncertain reports from 1460 AD |
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Typical eruption style |
Explosive |
Inca legends report that the top of Altar collapsed after seven years of activity in about 1460, but the caldera is considered to be much older than this by geologists. 9 major peaks over 5,000 metres (16,400 ft) form a horseshoe-shaped ridge about 3 km across, surrounding a central basin that contains a crater lake at about 4,200 m (13,800 ft), known as Laguna Collanes or Laguna Amarilla.
Sources:
- wikipedia
- Hall, Minard L. (1977). "El Volcanismo en el Ecuador". Sección Nacional del Ecuador. p. 120 pp
- Smithsonian / GVP additonal reports for Altar
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