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Popocatépetl volcano (Mexico): glowing lava bombs thrown from crater

Mon, 13 Sep 2021, 02:35 | BY: MARTIN
Vulcanian eruption from Popocatépetl volcano yesterday (image: CENAPRED)
Vulcanian eruption from Popocatépetl volcano yesterday (image: CENAPRED)
CENAPRED's surveillance cameras observed a few moderate-to-strong vulcanian explosions during the past few days.
Two explosions occurred at 01:34 and 10:00 local time yesterday showering the summit cone with glowing lava bombs and caused moderate to strong incandescent avalanches. A dense dark ash plume reached approx. 20,000 ft (6,100 m) altitude.
181 emissions of water vapor and gases were detected.
The seismic network recorded 368 minutes of internal tremor including two volcano-tectonic earthquakes with magnitude M 1.8 and 2.0.
Source: Centro Nacional de Prevención de Desastres volcano activity update 12 September 2021

Glowing lava bombs thrown from the summit crater at Popocatépetl volcano yesterday (source: @DavidHe11952876/twitter)

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Background:

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


Satellite images of Popocatepetl volcano (c)Google Earth View
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
tour to see the ongoing eruption of Mexico's most active volcano
6 days / 5 nights - Easy
Price 1650 €
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