Poas Volcano
Updated: May 12, 2024 20:54 GMT -
Stratovolcano 2708 m (8,884 ft)
Costa Rica, 10.2°N / -84.23°W
Current status: minor activity or eruption warning (3 out of 5)
Costa Rica, 10.2°N / -84.23°W
Current status: minor activity or eruption warning (3 out of 5)
Last update: 8 May 2024 (Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)
Poás is one of Costa Rica´s most active volcanoes, and one of its most frequently visited and prominent ones. It contains a green acid crater lake and during some of its frequent phreatic eruptions, water from the lake is ejected like a geyser.
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Poas volcano eruptions: 1828, 1834, 1838(?), 1860, 1879(?), 1880, 1888-91, 1895, 1898-1907, 1910, 1910, 1914, 1914-15, 1925, 1929, 1941-46, 1948-51, 1952-57, 1958-61, 1963, 1964-65, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972-73, 1974-75, 1976, 1977, 1977-78, 1978, 1979-80, 1980, 1981, 1987-90, 1991, 1992, 1992-93, 1994, 1996, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
Latest nearby earthquakes
| Time | Mag. / Depth | Distance / Location | |||
| May 12, 08:10 am (Costa Rica) | 2.5 78 km |  6 Km al suroeste de Vara Blanca, Costa Rica | Info | ||
| Saturday, May 11, 2024 GMT (1 quake) | |||||
| May 11, 03:41 pm (Costa Rica) | 2.9 39 km | 22 km (13 mi) to the S | Costa Rica: 3 km al Sureste de Tacares, Grecia. | Info | |
| Wednesday, May 8, 2024 GMT (1 quake) | |||||
| May 7, 11:36 pm (Costa Rica) | 2.6 89 km | Costa Rica: 6 km al Noroeste de Varablanca, Heredia. | Info | ||
| Tuesday, May 7, 2024 GMT (1 quake) | |||||
| May 6, 08:35 pm (Costa Rica) | 3.1 78 km | 24 km (15 mi) to the SE | Costa Rica: 4 km al Noroeste de San Isidro, Heredia. I FELT IT | Info | |
| Sunday, May 5, 2024 GMT (1 quake) | |||||
| May 4, 07:31 pm (Costa Rica) | 2.7 13 km | 13 km (8 mi) to the W | Costa Rica: 5 km al Oeste de Toro Amarillo, Sarchi. I FELT IT | Info | |
| Friday, May 3, 2024 GMT (1 quake) | |||||
| May 3, 03:20 pm (Costa Rica) | 3.1 4 km | 19 km (12 mi) to the W | Costa Rica: 4 km al Norte de Tapesco, Zarcero. I FELT IT | Info | |
Background
The broad, well-vegetated edifice of Poás has three craters in a N-S line. The 2708-m-high basaltic-to-dacitic complex stratovolcano is cut by a N-S-trending fissure that extends to the lower northern flank, where a parasite volcano (the Congo stratovolcano) and several explosion craters, or maars, most of them lake-filled, have been created.Poás has two summit crater lakes. The southermost one, Botos, is cold, clear has not eruptied for about 7500 years. The other crater lake is geothermally heated and -after Kawah Ijen in Indonesia - is probably the world's second most acidic natural lake. Its pH is near zero.
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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution
Poas Volcano Photos
Vulkan Poás in Costa Rica (Photo: Astrid_Furrer)
Latest satellite images
