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Popocatépetl volcano, Central Mexico: news & activity updates

Updated: Mar 28, 2024 18:21 GMT-

Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: strong degassing, weak gas and steam emissions, lava glow from summit crater

Tue, 31 Jul 2012, 06:42
Popocatépetl early on 31 July (CENAPRED)
Popocatépetl early on 31 July (CENAPRED)
Exhalations of gas and ash have dropped to 1-2 per hour (versus 3-4 times per hour during heightened activity). Seismic activity is low. A small 1.8 volcanic earthquakes occurred at 11:36 local time on 30 July. Read all

Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: strong degassing, lava glow from summit crater

Mon, 30 Jul 2012, 10:05
SO2 plume from Popocatépetl on 29 July (NOAA)
SO2 plume from Popocatépetl on 29 July (NOAA)
Eruptive activity remains reduced at Popocatepetl, but the volcano continues to emit a significant amount of SO2, and volcanic tremor and lava glow are visible. In fact, Popo is known to be one of the top-performers of SO2 emission among all known volcanoes.
Popocatépetl on 30 July (CENAPRED)
Popocatépetl on 30 July (CENAPRED)
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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.
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