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Report on Reventador (Ecuador) — 23 July-29 July 2014


Reventador

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 23 July-29 July 2014
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2014. Report on Reventador (Ecuador) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 23 July-29 July 2014. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (23 July-29 July 2014)

Reventador

Ecuador

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


IG reported moderate seismicity including explosions, long-period earthquakes, harmonic tremor, and tremor, though cloud cover mostly prevented observations of Reventador during 23-29 July. On 23 July IG reported that a column rose to 1 km above the crater and on 24 July reported strong roaring and a plume that drifted NW. On 27 July an emission was seen in satellite imagery.

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)