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Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) — 1 August-7 August 2012


Popocatepetl

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 1 August-7 August 2012
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2012. Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 1 August-7 August 2012. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (1 August-7 August 2012)

Popocatepetl

Mexico

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


CENAPRED reported that during 1-7 August seismicity at Popocatépetl indicated continuing gas-and-steam emissions that may have contained ash during 4-6 August; cloud cover prevented observations during most of this period. Incandescence from the crater was periodically observed. Gas-and-steam plumes were observed almost daily rising from the crater as high as 2.5 km above the rim. The plumes drifted SW and NW. On 5 August ash plumes rose 1.5 km and drifted SW. On 6 August ash plumes again rose 1.5 km above the crater, and at 1758 an ash plume rose 4 km. Some explosions ejected incandescent tephra that landed on the flanks. Gas-and-steam plumes drifted SW the next day. The Alert Level remained at Yellow, Phase Three.

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)