Report on Colima (Mexico) — 25 February-3 March 2015
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 February-3 March 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, 25 February-3 March 2015. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Colima
Mexico
19.514°N, 103.62°W; summit elev. 3850 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Based on satellite images, Mexico City MWO, and a webcam, the Washington VAAC reported that during 25 February-3 March multiple gas-and-ash plumes per day from Colima rose to altitudes of 5.2-7.6 km (17,000-25,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted in multiple directions. Ash drifted as far as 370 km SE (on 28 February). New thermal anomalies were identified on 28 February and continued through 2 March.
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.