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Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) — 12 May-18 May 2021


Santa Maria

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 May-18 May 2021
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2021. Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 May-18 May 2021. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (12 May-18 May 2021)

Santa Maria

Guatemala

14.757°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3745 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


INSIVUMEH reported that on 15 May lahars descended Santa María's Cabello de Ángel (a tributary of Nimá I) drainage, carrying tree trunks, branches, and blocks 1-3 m in diameter. The lahars reached the El Faro estate. The next day lahars descended the Cabello de Ángel and Nimá I drainages carrying blocks up to 1 m in diameter. The lahars were 25 m wide and 1 m deep, and had a sulfur odor.

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 E 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)