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 Satellite images of Popocatepetl volcano (c)Google Earth View
Stratovolcano 5426 m / 17,802 ft
Central Mexico, 19.02°N / -98.62°W
Current status: erupting (4 out of 5)
Popocatépetl volcano eruptions:
1345-47, 1354, 1363(?), 1488, 1504, 1509(?), 1512, 1518, 1519-23(?), 1528, 1530, 1539-40, 1542, 1548, 1571, 1580, 1590, 1592-94, 1642, 1663-65, 1666-67, 1697, 1720, 1802-04, 1827(?), 1834(?), 1852(?), 1919-22, 1923-24, 1925-27(?), 1933, 1942-43, 1947, 1994-95, 1996-2003, 2004-ongoing
Typical eruption style:Dominantly explosive, construction of lava domes. Plinian eruptions at intervals of several centuries or few thousands of years, vulcanian and strombolian activity in intermittent phases.
Popocatépetl volcano tours: Popocatépetl Volcano Special (tour to see the ongoing eruption of Mexico's most active volcano)
Popocatepetl volcano news & eruption updatePopocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity updateFri, 22 Mar 2013, 16:37 16:37 PM | BY: T  Small steam explosion at Popo yesterday  Current seismic signal from Popocatépetl
The volcano's activity has stayed rather calm and not changed much. Yesterday, the rate of emissions was down to less than 1 per hour, but seems to have increased a bit today, as the current seismic signal suggests. Previous newsNot much has changed overall. Emissions decreased again somewhat (about 2 per hour yesterday), and seismic activity has been weaker today as well. ... read allActivity increased yesterday. CENAPRED reported 95 small to moderate gas-steam-sometimes ash emissions, a 5 times steep increase compared to the previous day. Some explosions ejected incandescent material to up to 500 m distance from the crater, and created ash plumes rising up to about 1 km drifting east. ... read allCompared to yesterday, when some explosions were large enough to eject incandescent bombs to 200 m above the crater, accompanied by eruption tremor of moderate intensity, activity has been lower today. read allAfter being relatively quiet yesterday, activity has picked up today again. VAAC Washington has just received information about a probable explosion that generated an ash plume of unknown height. read allSnow-covered Popo is taking a probably short rest with only 5 weak emissions of gas and steam and probably no ash having been observed during 24 hours since yesterday. ... read allBackground:Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 250-450 m deep crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano.
At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian time.
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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution - Popocatepetl information
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