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Report on Irazu (Costa Rica) — July 1992


Irazu

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 17, no. 7 (July 1992)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Irazu (Costa Rica) Continued thermal activity and seismicity; crater lake rises

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1992. Report on Irazu (Costa Rica) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 17:7. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199207-345060



Irazu

Costa Rica

9.979°N, 83.852°W; summit elev. 3436 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


The level of the turquoise-green crater lake continued to rise. The subaqueous fumaroles on the lake's N and SE sides remained active, but fumarolic activity on the N and NW sides of the crater has diminished considerably. The seismic station (IRZ2) 5 km WSW of the main crater registered 33 low-frequency events in July, about the same number as in June. On 9 July at 0627, a M 2.5 earthquake occurred 6.6 km SE of the main crater at 5 km depth.

Geological Summary. The massive Irazú volcano in Costa Rica, immediately E of the capital city of San José, covers an area of 500 km2 and is vegetated to within a few hundred meters of its broad summit crater complex. At least 10 satellitic cones are located on its S flank. No lava effusion is known since the eruption of the Cervantes lava flows from S-flank vents about 14,000 years ago, and all known Holocene eruptions have been explosive. The focus of eruptions at the summit crater complex has migrated to the W towards the main crater, which contains a small lake. The first well-documented eruption occurred in 1723, and frequent explosive eruptions have occurred since. Ashfall from the last major eruption during 1963-65 caused significant disruption to San José and surrounding areas. Phreatic activity reported in 1994 may have been a landslide event from the fumarolic area on the NW summit (Fallas et al., 2018).

Information Contacts: E. Fernández, J. Barquero, and V. Barboza, OVSICORI.