Try our free app!
 Our expert volcanologists and photographers offer unique travel experiences: volcano expeditions, photo tours, and relaxed walking & study tours. Guaranteed tours
: spaces available / : guaranteed / : few spaces left / : booked out
|
|
 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 updateMon, 25 Mar 2013, 07:53 07:53 AM | BY: T  Explosion from Popocatépetl yesterday night  SO2 plume from Popocatépetl (NOAA) Glow from Popocatépetl's summit crater this morning
Activity has remained similar to previous weeks. The number of small explosions has risen a bit yesterday (1-2 per hour), and some of them were strong enough to eject glowing bombs to up to 500 m distance from the crater and creating ash plumes rising to about 23,000 ft (7 km) altitude or 1-1.5 km above the crater, drifting east. At night, glow continues to be visible, and a significant SO2 emission, both of which confirm that fresh magma is rising into the growing lava dome. Previous newsNo big changes in activity have occurred. Emissions of gas-steam-sometimes small amounts of ash have remained less than 1 per hour on average (yesterday). read allThe 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. ... read allNot 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 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.
---
Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution - Popocatepetl information
First visit to our site? If you havn't done it yet, download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest volcano news online: Android | IOS
|
