Socorro Volcano
Updated: Apr 25, 2024 17:44 GMT -
shield volcano 1050 m / 3,445 ft
Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico, 18.78°N / -110.95°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico, 18.78°N / -110.95°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Socorro volcano forms the SE-most of the Revillagigedo Islands south of Baja California. It is the summit of a very active, large, mostly submarine basaltic shield volcano. Its summit is capped by a largely buried, 4.5 x 3.8-km-wide summit caldera.
A submarine eruption occurred 3 km west of Socorro island during 1993-94, which manifested itself by steaming lava balloons rising to the surface.
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Socorro volcano eruptions: 1993-94, 1951, 1905(?), 1896(?), 1848(?)
Latest nearby earthquakes
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Background
A large tephra cone and lava dome complex, Cerro Evermann, forms the 1050-m-high summit of the volcano, and along with other cones and vents, fills much of the Pleistocene caldera. Rhyolitic lava domes have been constructed along flank rifts oriented to the north, west, and SE, and silicic lava flows from summit and flank vents have reached the coast and created an extremely irregular shoreline. Late-stage basaltic eruptions produced cones and flows near the coast. Only minor explosive activity, some of which is of uncertain validity, has occurred from flank vents in historical time dating back to the 19th century.In 1951 a brief phreatic eruption ejected blocks, and the gas column reached 1200 m elevation. A submarine eruption occurred during 1993-94 from a vent 3 km west of the island during which large scoriaceous blocks up to 5 m in size floated to the surface without associated explosive activity.