Volcano news: Colima Volcano (Mexico)
Colima volcano (Mexico): intermittent strong explosions
Friday Mar 13, 2015 09:37 AM | BY: T
Eruption of Colima around 1 am on 12 March (photo: Hernando Rivera)
Ash plume of the same eruption (photo: Hernando Rivera)
An impressive vulcanian eruption that covered the upper part of the cone with incandescent material and produced an ash plume of several km occurred yesterday morning (s. image).
- All news about: Colima volcano
- Information about: Colima volcano
Previous news
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Saturday, Mar 07, 2015
A selection of night-time photos of eruptions observed from the west and north of Colima volcano during 22-28 Feb.
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Wednesday, Mar 04, 2015
Activity remains similar as during the past week when we observed it from close - intermittent small to moderate explosions producing ash plumes of 1-2 km height. During our last overflight on Saturday, we could see that the lava dome had disappeared, likely a result of the recent explosions.
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Saturday, Feb 28, 2015
Dr Tom Pfeiffer is part of a volcano filming expedition in Mexico at the moment. They have been observing Colima volcano over the past few days. ...
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Thursday, Feb 19, 2015
The volcano remains active with explosions from the summit crater, but its activity has been decreasing a bit. In a report by the Civil Protection, the lava dome is said to have been partially destroyed by the recent explosions, leaving a crater of about 140 m diameter.
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Tuesday, Feb 17, 2015
Explosive activity remains elevated. At intervals of tens of minutes to few hours, small to moderate vulcanian explosions occur, often producing ash plumes rising 1-2 km above the crater.
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Background:
Colima volcano is one of the most active in North America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones. It has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago.The Colima volcanic complex is the most prominent volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the 4320 m high point of the complex) on the north and the 3850-m-high historically active Volcán de Colima at the south.
A group of cinder cones of probable late-Pleistocene age is located on the floor of the Colima graben west and east of the Colima complex. Volcán de Colima (also known as Volcán Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera, breached to the south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, and have produced a thick apron of debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent historical eruptions date back to the 16th century. Occasional major explosive eruptions (most recently in 1913) have destroyed the summit and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome growth.
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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institute - Colima information
