Universidad de Colima reported on 15 May that low-intensity activity continued at Colima, with an average of three ash-containing explosions daily during the previous few days. The plumes rose to less than 2 km above the volcano and drifted W, N, and E. Some explosions produced pyroclastic flows to distances less than 2 km. On 14 May at 1028 an explosion produced a plume to ~2 km above the volcano that drifted E. In addition, three small pyroclastic flows traveled down the volcano's W, N, and E flanks.

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: Centro Universitario de Estudios e Investigaciones de Vulcanologia - Universidad de Colima, Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)