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Report on Reventador (Ecuador) — 30 November-6 December 2016


Reventador

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 30 November-6 December 2016
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2016. Report on Reventador (Ecuador) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 30 November-6 December 2016. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (30 November-6 December 2016)

Reventador

Ecuador

0.077°S, 77.656°W; summit elev. 3562 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


During 30 November-6 December IG reported a high level of seismic activity including explosions, long-period earthquakes, harmonic tremor, and signals indicating emissions at Reventador; cloud cover sometimes prevented visual observations. Incandescent blocks were observed rolling as far as 1.6 km down the flanks. Gas, water vapor, and ash plumes were observed on most days rising as high as 1.5 km and drifted SW, W, NW, and NE.

Geological Summary. Volcán El Reventador is the most frequently active of a chain of Ecuadorian volcanoes in the Cordillera Real, well east of the principal volcanic axis. The forested, dominantly andesitic stratovolcano has 4-km-wide avalanche scarp open to the E formed by edifice collapse. A young, unvegetated, cone rises from the amphitheater floor to a height comparable to the rim. It has been the source of numerous lava flows as well as explosive eruptions visible from Quito, about 90 km ESE. Frequent lahars in this region of heavy rainfall have left extensive deposits on the scarp slope. The largest recorded eruption took place in 2002, producing a 17-km-high eruption column, pyroclastic flows that traveled up to 8 km, and lava flows from summit and flank vents.

Source: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN)