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Report on Colima (Mexico) — April 2008


Colima

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 33, no. 4 (April 2008)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman.

Colima (Mexico) By 8 March 2008, the last year's dome growth filled ~30% of the crater

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2008. Report on Colima (Mexico) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 33:4. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN200804-341040



Colima

Mexico

19.514°N, 103.62°W; summit elev. 3850 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


A new episode of lava dome growth in the crater was first observed on 1 February 2007 (figure 84). Dome growth continued during February-September, changing its volume from 15,000 m3 to 110,000 m3, with a low mean-effusion rate of about 0.0045 m3/s (figure 85).

Figure (see Caption) Figure 84. Photo of the dome at Colima looking NE, taken on 1 February 2007 by Jalisco Civil Protection. Courtesy of Jalisco Civil Protection and Colima Volcano Observatory.
Figure (see Caption) Figure 85. A plot portraying the dome growth rate at Colima during February 2007-8 March 2008. The data point in early February 2007 had a volume of 115,000 m3. Courtesy of Colima Volcano Observatory.

During October 2007, Colima's effusion rate began to increase significantly (up to 0.033 m3/s) and on 8 March 2008 the dome's volume reached about 600,000 m3, filling ~ 30% of the crater (figure 86). This dome growth was accompanied by 3-5 small explosions daily.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 86. Photo of Colima's dome looking NE, taken on 8 March 2008 by Colima Volcano Observatory. Courtesy of Jalisco Civil Protection and Colima Volcano Observatory.

Geological Summary. The Colima complex is the most prominent volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the high point of the complex) on the north and the historically active Volcán de Colima at the south. A group of late-Pleistocene cinder cones is located on the floor of the Colima graben west and east of the complex. Volcán de Colima (also known as Volcán Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide scarp, breached to the south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, producing thick debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent recorded eruptions date back to the 16th century. Occasional major explosive eruptions have destroyed the summit (most recently in 1913) and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome growth.

Information Contacts: Observatorio Vulcanológico de la Universidad de Colima, Colima, Col., 28045, México (URL: https://portal.ucol.mx/cueiv/).