Mascota Volcano
Updated: Apr 19, 2024 07:43 GMT -
cinder cones 2560 m / 8,399 ft
Western Mexico, 20.62°N / -104.83°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Western Mexico, 20.62°N / -104.83°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Mascota is a volcanic field in western Mexico near the town of Mascota. It covers about 2000 sq km and has 87 small cinder cones and lava flows.
The youngest volcanic activity took place at Volcán Malpaís north of Mascota and produced a basaltic-andesite lava flow probably only a few thousand years ago.
[smaller] [larger]
Mascota volcano eruptions: unknown, less than 10,000 years ago
Latest nearby earthquakes
| Time | Mag. / Depth | Distance / Location | |||
Background
The Mascota field contains calc-alkaline andesitic and minette cinder cones and lava domes and is part of the Jalisco tectonic block about 50 km east of Puerto Vallarta.Mascota is the youngest of a group of potassic volcanic fields in extensional grabens of the Jalisco block south of the Río Ameca. Most volcanism in the Mascota volcanic field is confined to two NNW-SSE-trending grabens cutting Cretaceous ash-flow tuffs.
The oldest eruptions (2.4 - 0.5 million years ago) for the southern part of the field, while the younger eruptions (less than 500,000 years old) are in the north.
The volcanic field is known for its unusual diversity of volcanic rocks. It contains the Earth's youngest known minettes (70-80,000 years old). Minettes are a variety of igneous rock with phenocrysts of biotite, and with or without phenocrysts of hornblende, augite with a high diopside content, and olivine.
Latest satellite images
