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Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) — 19 June-25 June 2019


Popocatepetl

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 June-25 June 2019
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2019. Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 June-25 June 2019. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (19 June-25 June 2019)

Popocatepetl

Mexico

19.023°N, 98.622°W; summit elev. 5393 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


CENAPRED reported that each day during 19-25 June there were 26-201 steam-and-gas emissions from Popocatépetl, some of which contained minor amounts of ash. An explosion at 2058 on 21 June produced an ash plume that rose 2.5 km above the crater rim and drifted W, and ejected incandescent material less than 1 km onto the flanks. Minor ashfall was reported in areas downwind including the municipalities of Ozumba (18 km W), Atlautla (16 km W), and Ecatzingo (15 km SW) in the State of Mexico, and in Tetela del Volcán (20 km SW) in the State of Morelos. The Alert Level remained at Yellow, Phase Two (middle level on a three-color scale).

Geological Summary. Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, rises 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 400 x 600 m wide 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 to the south. The modern volcano was constructed south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major Plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 CE, have occurred 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 Pre-Columbian time.

Source: Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED)