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Report on Poas (Costa Rica) — 26 March-1 April 2014


Poas

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 26 March-1 April 2014
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2014. Report on Poas (Costa Rica) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 26 March-1 April 2014. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (26 March-1 April 2014)

Poas

Costa Rica

10.2°N, 84.233°W; summit elev. 2697 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


OVSICORI-UNA reported that a strong phreatic eruption from Poás was recorded at 1532 on 30 March. The explosion ejected water, steam, gases, sediment, and fragments of altered rock 150 m above the crater lake’s surface. The report noted several small phreatic eruptions that ejected material less than 50 m high, as well as large gas bubbles and vapor in the middle of the lake, during February and March.

Geological Summary. The broad vegetated edifice of Poás, one of the most active volcanoes of Costa Rica, contains three craters along a N-S line. The frequently visited multi-hued summit crater lakes of the basaltic-to-dacitic volcano are easily accessible by vehicle from the nearby capital city of San José. A N-S-trending fissure cutting the complex stratovolcano extends to the lower N flank, where it has produced the Congo stratovolcano and several lake-filled maars. The southernmost of the two summit crater lakes, Botos, last erupted about 7,500 years ago. The more prominent geothermally heated northern lake, Laguna Caliente, is one of the world's most acidic natural lakes, with a pH of near zero. It has been the site of frequent phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions since an eruption was reported in 1828. Eruptions often include geyser-like ejections of crater-lake water.

Source: Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA)