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Report on Apoyo (Nicaragua) — June 1997


Apoyo

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 22, no. 6 (June 1997)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman.

Apoyo (Nicaragua) On 8 June, a M 3.7 tectonic earthquake struck this reposing caldera

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1997. Report on Apoyo (Nicaragua) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 22:6. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199706-344802



Apoyo

Nicaragua

11.92°N, 86.03°W; summit elev. 600 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


A swarm of seismic events was observed in June 1997, centered on the E flank of the Laguna de Apoyo. The strongest event was M 3.7 on 8 June. This and many other events were felt with maximum modified Mercalli intensity of IV in nearby villages and Granada city (10 km from Apoyo). The events were of tectonic character.

Geological Summary. The scenic 7-km-wide, lake-filled Apoyo caldera is a large silicic volcanic center immediately SE of Masaya caldera. The surface of Laguna de Apoyo lies only 78 m above sea level; the steep caldera walls rise about 100 m to the eastern rim and up to 500 m to the western rim. An early shield volcano constructed of basaltic-to-andesitic lava flows and small rhyodacitic lava domes collapsed following two major dacitic explosive eruptions. The caldera-forming eruptions have been radiocarbon dated between about 21,000-25,000 years before present. Post-caldera ring-fracture eruptions of uncertain age produced lava flows below the scalloped caldera rim. The slightly arcuate, N-S-trending La Joya fracture system that cuts the eastern flank of the caldera only 2 km east of the caldera rim is a younger regional fissure system structurally unrelated to Apoyo caldera.

Information Contacts: Wilfried Strauch, Department of Geophysics, and Marta Navarro C., Department of Volcanoes, Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), P.O. Box 1761, Managua, Nicaragua.