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Report on Mombacho (Nicaragua) — December 1980


Mombacho

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 12 (December 1980)
Managing Editor: David Squires.

Mombacho (Nicaragua) Small intermittent plume

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1980. Report on Mombacho (Nicaragua) (Squires, D., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 5:12. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN198012-344110



Mombacho

Nicaragua

11.826°N, 85.968°W; summit elev. 1344 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


In late 1980 a small, intermittent plume was visible, rising from the SE section of the summit.

Geological Summary. Mombacho is an andesitic and basaltic stratovolcano on the shores of Lake Nicaragua south of the city of Granada that has undergone edifice collapse on several occasions. Two large breached craters formed by edifice failure cut the summit on the NE and S flanks. The NE-flank scarp was the source of a large debris avalanche that produced an arcuate peninsula and a cluster of small islands (Las Isletas) in Lake Nicaragua. Two small, well-preserved cinder cones are located on the lower N flank. The only reported activity was in 1570, when a debris avalanche destroyed a village on the south side of the volcano. Although there were contemporary reports of an explosion, there is no direct evidence that the avalanche was accompanied by an eruption. Fumarolic fields and hot springs are found within the two collapse scarps and on the upper N flank.

Information Contacts: R. Stoiber, S. Williams, H.R. Naslund, L. Malinconico, M. Conrad, Dartmouth College; M. Carr, J. Walker, Rutgers Univ.; A. Creusot, Instituto Nicaraguense de Energía.