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Colima volcano (Mexico): activity report - less pyroclastic flows, but explosions

Mon, 13 Jul 2015, 21:36 | BY: T
Ash explosion from Colima today
Ash explosion from Colima today
The volcano's activity at least seems to have quieted down and changed in style, now producing less rock avalanches and pyroclastic flows (as result of lava extrusion and overspilling), but more intermittent explosions.
Field report: activity of pyroclastic flows rapidly increased on Saturday 11 July, with powerful pyroclastic flows that traveled as far as approx. 10 km, mainly into the ravines of La Lumbre and Montegrande on the SW and S sides. When arriving in Colima Sunday noon, pyroclastic flows on the southern side were nearly continuous although only the base of the volcano was visible. In the course of the evening and the night, this activity decreased a lot. Judging from diffuse glow visible through cloud cover, it seems a coherent lava flow was active on the upper S side.
Today, no pyroclastic flows have been seen (but most of the time, the volcano has been in clouds), but several moderately sized ash plumes rose from the summit, presumably caused by explosions.
Activity from Sat-Sun night by our friend Osiris from Colima:

Previous news

Fri, 10 Jul 2015, 18:21

Colima volcano (Mexico): new lava dome, pyroclastic flows and incandescent avalanches

Pyroclastic flow from Colima this afternoon
A new eruptive phase has started at the volcano earlier this month. A new lava dome started to grow quickly in the summit crater and has been producing frequent explosions, glowing avalanches and pyroclastic flows (video): Read all
Wed, 8 Jul 2015, 06:00

Colima volcano (Mexico) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 8 July-14 July 2015 (New Activity / Unrest)

In a 7 July bulletin, the Unidad Estatal de Protección Civil de Colima reported that during the previous week explosions from a fast-growing lava dome at Colima generated ash plumes that rose 3 km above the crater. Incandescent rock avalanches, from explosions and the lava dome overtopping the crater rim, descended the flanks. Ashfall was reported in various communities downwind. ... Read all
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Background:

Colima volcano is one of the most active in North America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones. It has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago. 

The Colima volcanic complex is the most prominent volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt.  It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the 4320 m high point of the complex) on the north and the 3850-m-high historically active Volcán de Colima at the south. 
A group of cinder cones of probable late-Pleistocene age is located on the floor of the Colima graben west and east of the Colima complex. Volcán de Colima (also known as Volcán Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera, breached to the south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches.  Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, and have produced a thick apron of debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex.  Frequent historical eruptions date back to the 16th century.  Occasional major explosive eruptions (most recently in 1913) have destroyed the summit and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome growth.
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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institute - Colima information
In this photo released by the civil defense unit of the state government of Jalisco, the eruption plume from the initial stage of the powerful vulcanian explosion at Colima volcano on May 23, 2005, has been captured on film. The collapsing eruption column loaded with ash and rock fragments has not yet fully developed, but the flanks of the volcano are already covered by the impacts of ballistics. (AP Photo/Proteccion Civil del estado de Jalisco-HO)
In this photo released by the civil defense unit of the state government of Jalisco, the eruption plume from the initial stage of the powerful vulcanian explosion at Colima volcano on May 23, 2005, has been captured on film. The collapsing eruption column loaded with ash and rock fragments has not yet fully developed, but the flanks of the volcano are already covered by the impacts of ballistics. (AP Photo/Proteccion Civil del estado de Jalisco-HO)

Colima volcano
Stratovolcano 3850 m / 12,631 ft
Western Mexico, 19.51°N / -103.62°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5) Colima volcano eruptions:
1519, 1560, 1576, 1585, 1590, 1602(?), 1606, 1611-1613, 1622, 1690, 1711, 1743(?), 1744, 1749(?),1769, 1770, 1771, 1780, 1794, 1795, 1804, 1806-1809, 1818, 1819, 1866, 1869, 1870-71, 1872-73, 1874, 1875-78, 1879-80, 1880-81, 1882-84, 1885-1886, 1887, 1889-90, 1890, 1891-92, 1893-1902, 1903, 1904-1906, 1908-09, 1913, 1926-1931(?), 1941(?), 1957-1960, 1961-62, 1963-70, 1973(?), 1975-76, 1977-1982, 1983(?), 1985-86, 1987, 1988(?), 1991, 1994, 1997-2011, 2013-ongoing
Typical eruption style
Dominantly explosive. Construction of lava domes, vulcanian eruptions and strombolian activity. In near-constant activity since 1994.
Colima Volcano Tours
5 days expedition to observe and photograph Colima volcano, Mexico
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