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Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) — 27 December-2 January 2007


Santa Maria

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 27 December-2 January 2007
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 27 December-2 January 2007. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (27 December-2 January 2007)

Santa Maria

Guatemala

14.757°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3745 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


INSIVUMEH reported that on 28 December a series of small sector collapses from the SW edge of Santa María's Caliente dome produced pyroclastic flows that traveled about 2 km down a ravine. On 29 December, another collapse produced pyroclastic flows and incandescent blocks. Thick ash plumes associated with the pyroclastic flows on both days reached an altitude of 4.3 km (14,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W and NW. According to the Washington VAAC, minor emissions of gas and possible ash were visible on satellite imagery on 1 and 2 January. The narrow ash plumes drifted WSW.

Geological Summary. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is part of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rise above the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The sharp-topped, conical profile is cut on the SW flank by a 1.5-km-wide crater. The oval-shaped crater extends from just below the summit to the lower flank, and was formed during a catastrophic eruption in 1902. The renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 that devastated much of SW Guatemala followed a long repose period after construction of the large basaltic-andesite stratovolcano. The massive dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four vents, with activity progressing E towards the most recent, Caliente. Dome growth has been accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions, with periodic lava extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.

Sources: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)