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Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) — 28 June-4 July 2006


Santa Maria

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 June-4 July 2006
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 June-4 July 2006. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (28 June-4 July 2006)

Santa Maria

Guatemala

14.757°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3745 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


According to the Washington VAAC, on 1 July small ash plumes from Santa María's Santiaguito lava-dome complex reached altitudes of 5.8 km (19,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW. On 3 July, INSIVUMEH reported that an ash plume reached ~800 m above the summit (~15,000 ft a.s.l.). White "smoke" from an incandescent avalanche deposit was visible from the NE base of Caliente cone.

Geological Summary. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is part of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rise above the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The sharp-topped, conical profile is cut on the SW flank by a 1.5-km-wide crater. The oval-shaped crater extends from just below the summit to the lower flank, and was formed during a catastrophic eruption in 1902. The renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 that devastated much of SW Guatemala followed a long repose period after construction of the large basaltic-andesite stratovolcano. The massive dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four vents, with activity progressing E towards the most recent, Caliente. Dome growth has been accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions, with periodic lava extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.

Sources: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)