Fernandina volcano
Shield volcano 1476 m / 4,842 ft
Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, -0.37°S / -91.55°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Fernandina webcams / live data | Reports
Fernandina volcano books
Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, -0.37°S / -91.55°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Fernandina webcams / live data | Reports
Fernandina volcano books
[hide map] [enlarge map]
Last update: 19 Aug 2018 (fissure eruption with fountains and lava flows reaching the sea)
Typical eruption style: unspecified
Fernandina volcano eruptions: 2018, 2017, 2009
Typical eruption style: unspecified
Fernandina volcano eruptions: 2018, 2017, 2009
| Time | Mag. / Depth | Distance | Location |
Background:
Fernandina, the most active of Galápagos volcanoes and the one closest to the Galápagos mantle plume, is a basaltic shield volcano with a deep 5 x 6.5 km summit caldera. The volcano displays the classic "overturned soup bowl" profile of Galápagos shield volcanoes. Its caldera is elongated in a NW-SE direction and formed during several episodes of collapse. Circumferential fissures surround the caldera and were instrumental in growth of the volcano. Reporting has been poor in this uninhabited western end of the archipelago, and even a 1981 eruption was not witnessed at the time. In 1968 the caldera floor dropped 350 m following a major explosive eruption. Subsequent eruptions, mostly from vents located on or near the caldera boundary faults, have produced lava flows inside the caldera as well as those in 1995 that reached the coast from a SW-flank vent. Collapse of a nearly 1 cu km section of the east caldera wall during an eruption in 1988 produced a debris-avalanche deposit that covered much of the caldera floor and absorbed the caldera lake.---
Smithsonian / GVP volcano information
Latest satellite images
