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Report on Colima (Mexico) — 29 May-4 June 2019


Colima

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 29 May-4 June 2019
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2019. Report on Colima (Mexico) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 29 May-4 June 2019. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (29 May-4 June 2019)

Colima

Mexico

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Centro Universitario de Estudios e Investigaciones de Vulcanologia - Universidad de Colima reported that during 25-31 May small explosions and intermittent steam-and-gas emissions mainly from the NE side of the crater continued to be recorded. During overflights conducted during 23-24 May scientists observed that the new feature (a crack or cavity) reported the previous week had become a hole due to the combination of excavation due to explosions and probable subsidence. The maximum temperature recorded with a portable thermal camera was 252 degrees Celsius, an increase of 80 degrees since recorded on 1 May.

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.

Source: Centro Universitario de Estudios Vulcanológicos (CUEV) - Universidad de Colima