Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) — 12 April-18 April 2006
Smithsonian / US Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report,
12 April-18 April 2006
Managing Editor: Sally Kuhn Sennert
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 April-18 April 2006. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Santa Maria
Guatemala
14.757°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3745 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Explosions at Santa María's Santiaguito lava-dome complex on 17 April produced ash plumes that reached heights between 500 and 900 m above the volcano (14,000-15,300 ft a.s.l.). Several pyroclastic avalanches occurred that sent material down the volcano's S flank.
Geological Summary. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is part of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rise above the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The sharp-topped, conical profile is cut on the SW flank by a 1.5-km-wide crater. The oval-shaped crater extends from just below the summit to the lower flank, and was formed during a catastrophic eruption in 1902. The renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 that devastated much of SW Guatemala followed a long repose period after construction of the large basaltic-andesite stratovolcano. The massive dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four vents, with activity progressing W towards the most recent, Caliente. Dome growth has been accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions, with periodic lava extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.
Source: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)