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Report on Colima (Mexico) — 21 January-27 January 2015


Colima

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 21 January-27 January 2015
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2015. Report on Colima (Mexico) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 21 January-27 January 2015. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (21 January-27 January 2015)

Colima

Mexico

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Based on news articles, an explosion at 0713 on 21 January generated an ash plume that rose 4 km and drifted E. Ashfall was reported in Huescalpa (25 km NE), Tuxpan (25 km ENE), Zapotiltic (23 km NE), Vista Hermosa, Atenquique (20 km E), and Mazamitla (78 km NE). On 23 January authorities restricted access to the Parque Nacional Nevado de Colima citing increased activity during the previous days. The next day an ash plume rose 500 m and was followed by another ash plume that rose 700 m. Two ash plumes on 26 January rose as high as 1 km.

In a 24 January bulletin, the Unidad Estatal de Protección Civil reported that Colima remained active, although there was a slight decrease in the number and size of lava-block avalanches. Lava flows were active on the W and WNW flanks, and explosive activity was low to moderate. The recent explosions had partially destroyed the lava dome. Residents were warned not go within 5 km of the volcano.

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.

Sources: Informador, Informador, Informador, Informador, Unidad Estatal de Protección Civil de Colima