Logo link to homepage

Report on Pacaya (Guatemala) — 12 December-18 December 2018


Pacaya

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 December-18 December 2018
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2018. Report on Pacaya (Guatemala) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 December-18 December 2018. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (12 December-18 December 2018)

Pacaya

Guatemala

14.382°N, 90.601°W; summit elev. 2569 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


In a special notice posted on 13 December INSIVUMEH reported that rumbling at Pacaya was heard within a radius of 8 km, and weak Strombolian explosions at Mackenney Crater ejected material as high as 50 m above the crater rim. Active lava flows were 200-300 m in length and traveled down the NW flank, generating avalanches of blocks that were as large as 1 m in diameter. The report also noted that the cone in the crater continued to grow, filling the crater, and was 75 m above the crater rim. During 15-16 December lava continued to flow NW and Strombolian explosions ejected material 5-25 m high.

Geological Summary. Eruptions from Pacaya are frequently visible from Guatemala City, the nation's capital. This complex basaltic volcano was constructed just outside the southern topographic rim of the 14 x 16 km Pleistocene Amatitlán caldera. A cluster of dacitic lava domes occupies the southern caldera floor. The post-caldera Pacaya massif includes the older Pacaya Viejo and Cerro Grande stratovolcanoes and the currently active Mackenney stratovolcano. Collapse of Pacaya Viejo between 600 and 1,500 years ago produced a debris-avalanche deposit that extends 25 km onto the Pacific coastal plain and left an arcuate scarp inside which the modern Pacaya volcano (Mackenney cone) grew. The NW-flank Cerro Chino crater was last active in the 19th century. During the past several decades, activity has consisted of frequent Strombolian eruptions with intermittent lava flow extrusion that has partially filled in the caldera moat and covered the flanks of Mackenney cone, punctuated by occasional larger explosive eruptions that partially destroy the summit.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)