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Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) — 20 April-26 April 2022


Santa Maria

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 20 April-26 April 2022
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2022. Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 20 April-26 April 2022. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (20 April-26 April 2022)

Santa Maria

Guatemala

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


INSIVUMEH reported that the eruption at Santa María’s Santiaguito lava-dome complex continued during 21-25 April. Incandescence from Caliente crater and the lava flows on the W and SW flanks was visible nightly and early mornings. Avalanches of blocks descended the W and SW flanks of Caliente. The lava flows continued to advance, traveling as far as 2.5 km in the San Isidro channel, and produced block avalanches from the ends and sides of the flows that descended the S, SW, and S flanks. Ash from these avalanches fell in areas around the volcano and a sulfur odor was also occasionally noticed.

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)