Logo link to homepage

Report on Reventador (Ecuador) — 17 February-23 February 2016


Reventador

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 17 February-23 February 2016
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2016. Report on Reventador (Ecuador) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 17 February-23 February 2016. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (17 February-23 February 2016)

Reventador

Ecuador

0.077°S, 77.656°W; summit elev. 3562 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


During 17-23 February IG reported a high level of seismic activity including explosions, volcano-tectonic events, long-period earthquakes, harmonic and spasmodic tremor, and signals indicating emissions at Reventador; cloud cover often prevented visual observations. On 18 February a gas-and-ash plume rose 500 m above the crater and drifted NW.

Geological Summary. Volcán El Reventador is the most frequently active of a chain of Ecuadorian volcanoes in the Cordillera Real, well east of the principal volcanic axis. The forested, dominantly andesitic stratovolcano has 4-km-wide avalanche scarp open to the E formed by edifice collapse. A young, unvegetated, cone rises from the amphitheater floor to a height comparable to the rim. It has been the source of numerous lava flows as well as explosive eruptions visible from Quito, about 90 km ESE. Frequent lahars in this region of heavy rainfall have left extensive deposits on the scarp slope. The largest recorded eruption took place in 2002, producing a 17-km-high eruption column, pyroclastic flows that traveled up to 8 km, and lava flows from summit and flank vents.

Source: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN)