Due to the US Government shutdown, the Smithsonian is temporarily closed. The Global Volcanism Program website will remain available but will not be monitored or updated. Status updates will be available on the Smithsonian homepage.
Logo link to homepage

Report on Irazu (Costa Rica) — March 1992


Irazu

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 17, no. 3 (March 1992)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Irazu (Costa Rica) Earthquakes in three epicentral zones; fumarolic activity

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1992. Report on Irazu (Costa Rica) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 17:3. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199203-345060



Irazu

Costa Rica

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Fumarolic activity continued in March. The crater lake's water level was several centimeters lower than in February, with an average temperature of 28°C and a pH of 3.7 on 2 April. The 141 earthquakes recorded in March (at station IRZ2, 5 km W of the crater), included M 2.0-2.5 events on 2, 15, and 21-22 March. The larger earthquakes were centered 6-7 km NW, 1.5 km SE, and 3 km NE of the crater, at 0-17 km depth. Low-frequency seismicity continued beneath the crater.

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; G. Soto and R. Barquero, ICE; Guillermo Alvarado, GEOMAR, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Germany; Mario Fernández, Sección de Sismología y Vulcanología, Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, Univ de Costa Rica.