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Report on Ubinas (Peru) — 28 August-3 September 2019


Ubinas

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 August-3 September 2019
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2019. Report on Ubinas (Peru) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 August-3 September 2019. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (28 August-3 September 2019)

Ubinas

Peru

16.345°S, 70.8972°W; summit elev. 5608 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


IGP reported that during 27 August-2 September gas-and-water-vapor plumes from Ubinas rose to heights less than 1 km above the summit, and three thermal anomalies were recorded by the MIROVA system. The number of seismic events was 2,828 (all under M 2.3), with volcano-tectonic (VT) signals being the most numerous. There was a slight increase in the number of long-period, hybrid, and VT events compared to the previous week. Beginning at 2145 on 1 September a period of continuous ash emissions was recorded by the webcam. An explosion at 1358 on 3 September generated an ash plume that rose 1.3 km above the summit and drifted more than 10 km S and SE. Prior to this event, the last explosion as recorded on 22 July. The Alert Level remained at Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale) and the public were warned to stay outside of a 15-km radius.

Geological Summary. The truncated appearance of Ubinas, Perú's most active volcano, is a result of a 1.4-km-wide crater at the summit. It is the northernmost of three young volcanoes located along a regional structural lineament about 50 km behind the main volcanic front. The growth and destruction of Ubinas I was followed by construction of Ubinas II beginning in the mid-Pleistocene. The upper slopes of the andesitic-to-rhyolitic Ubinas II stratovolcano are composed primarily of andesitic and trachyandesitic lava flows and steepen to nearly 45°. The steep-walled, 150-m-deep summit crater contains an ash cone with a 500-m-wide funnel-shaped vent that is 200 m deep. Debris-avalanche deposits from the collapse of the SE flank about 3,700 years ago extend 10 km from the volcano. Widespread Plinian pumice-fall deposits include one from about 1,000 years ago. Holocene lava flows are visible on the flanks, but activity documented since the 16th century has consisted of intermittent minor-to-moderate explosive eruptions.

Source: Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP)