Logo link to homepage

Report on Telica (Nicaragua) — December 1976


Telica

Natural Science Event Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 15 (December 1976)
Managing Editor: David Squires.

Telica (Nicaragua) Dark landslide material in typical small fume cloud

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1976. Report on Telica (Nicaragua) (Squires, D., ed.). Natural Science Event Bulletin, 1:15. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.NSEB197612-344040



Telica

Nicaragua

12.606°N, 86.84°W; summit elev. 1036 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


During the morning of 18 or 19 November, there was a little dark material in the small fume cloud that is usually present over Telica. Alain Creusot suggested that landsliding from the crater walls may have been responsible.

Geological Summary. Telica, one of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes, has erupted frequently since the beginning of the Spanish era. This volcano group consists of several interlocking cones and vents with a general NW alignment. Sixteenth-century eruptions were reported at symmetrical Santa Clara volcano at the SW end of the group. However, its eroded and breached crater has been covered by forests throughout historical time, and these eruptions may have originated from Telica, whose upper slopes in contrast are unvegetated. The steep-sided cone of Telica is truncated by a 700-m-wide double crater; the southern crater, the source of recent eruptions, is 120 m deep. El Liston, immediately E, has several nested craters. The fumaroles and boiling mudpots of Hervideros de San Jacinto, SE of Telica, form a prominent geothermal area frequented by tourists, and geothermal exploration has occurred nearby.

Information Contacts: R. Stoiber, Dartmouth College.