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Report on Irazu (Costa Rica) — 22 April-28 April 2020


Irazu

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 22 April-28 April 2020
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2020. Report on Irazu (Costa Rica) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 22 April-28 April 2020. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (22 April-28 April 2020)

Irazu

Costa Rica

9.979°N, 83.852°W; summit elev. 3436 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


OVSICORI-UNA reported that on 21 April scientists confirmed that the lake in Irazú’s crater was gone and noted continuous intra-crater landslides from unstable parts of the crater.

Geological Summary. The massive Irazú volcano in Costa Rica, immediately E of the capital city of San José, covers an area of 500 km2 and is vegetated to within a few hundred meters of its broad summit crater complex. At least 10 satellitic cones are located on its S flank. No lava effusion is known since the eruption of the Cervantes lava flows from S-flank vents about 14,000 years ago, and all known Holocene eruptions have been explosive. The focus of eruptions at the summit crater complex has migrated to the W towards the main crater, which contains a small lake. The first well-documented eruption occurred in 1723, and frequent explosive eruptions have occurred since. Ashfall from the last major eruption during 1963-65 caused significant disruption to San José and surrounding areas. Phreatic activity reported in 1994 may have been a landslide event from the fumarolic area on the NW summit (Fallas et al., 2018).

Source: Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA)