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Pacaya volcano satellite image by (c) Google Earth View
Pacaya volcano satellite image by (c) Google Earth View
News:
Pacaya volcano (Guatemala) activity update
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The volcano remains quiet. INSIVUMEH reports only a continuous degassing plume reaching about 50 m above the crater. [more]
Pacaya volcano (Guatemala): no visible activity
Friday, Apr 18, 2014
INSIVUMEH only reports steaming and internal tremor, but no visible eruptive activity from the Mackenney crater at the moment. [more]

Pacaya volcano

Complex volcano 2552 m (8,373 ft)
Guatemala, 14.38°N / -90.6°W
Current status: restless (2 out of 5)
Pacaya webcams / live data
Last update: 27 May 2014
Typical eruption style: Mildly explosive and effusive (Strombolian activity, lava fountaining, lava flows from the summit crater). Near continuously active the least during the past centuries.
Pacaya volcano eruptions: 1360, 1565, 1623(?), 1651, 1655, 1664, 1668, 1671, 1674, 1677(?), 1678, 1690, 1693, 1699, 1717(?), 1760(?), 1775, 1805, 1830(?), 1846, 1885, 1961, 1965, 1970, 2972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 - May 1998 (intense period of summit activity), 1999-2003, 2004-2010, 2012, 2013, 2014
Last earthquakes nearby: No recent earthquakes
TimeMag. / DepthDistanceLocation
Pacaya volcano near Guatemala City is one of Guatemala's most active volcanoes, and its frequent eruptions are often visible from Guatemala City. Typical activity in recent years includes strombolian activity, lava flow emission and intermittend violent phases of lava fountaining.

Background:

Pacaya is a complex basaltic volcano constructed just outside the southern topographic rim of the 14 x 16 km Pleistocene Amatitlán caldera. A cluster of dacitic lava domes occupies the southern caldera floor. The post-caldera Pacaya massif includes the Cerro Grande lava dome and a younger volcano to the SW. Collapse of Pacaya volcano about 1100 years ago produced a debris-avalanche deposit that extends 25 km onto the Pacific coastal plain and left an arcuate somma rim inside which the modern Pacaya volcano (MacKenney cone) grew. A subsidiary crater, Cerro Chino, was constructed on the NW somma rim and was last active in the 19th century.
During the past several decades, activity at Pacaya has consisted of frequent strombolian eruptions with intermittent lava flow extrusion that has partially filled in the caldera moat and armored the flanks of MacKenney cone, punctuated by occasional larger explosive eruptions that partially destroy the summit of the cone.
Source: GVP

Pacaya Photos:

Pacaya volcano with its lava flows seen from Acatenango volcano. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Pacaya volcano with its lava flows seen from Acatenango volcano. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
 Lava flow at night (Pacaya) (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Lava flow at night (Pacaya) (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
 Pacaya in Guatemala, scanned from slide film. (Photo: hedgepig)
Pacaya in Guatemala, scanned from slide film. (Photo: hedgepig)
Penny, one of VolcanoDiscovery's biggest fans, at the lava flow in the morning (after a long and wet night out here). (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Penny, one of VolcanoDiscovery's biggest fans, at the lava flow in the morning (after a long and wet night out here). (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
 The small geothermal power plant in one of Pacaya's older craters. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
The small geothermal power plant in one of Pacaya's older craters. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
 The summit cone of Pacaya volcano seen from the vast lava flow field created in the 2006 eruption. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
The summit cone of Pacaya volcano seen from the vast lava flow field created in the 2006 eruption. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)



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