Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) — 7 September-13 September 2022
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 7 September-13 September 2022
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2022. Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 7 September-13 September 2022. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Popocatepetl
Mexico
19.023°N, 98.622°W; summit elev. 5393 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
CENAPRED reported that there were 41-74 steam-and-gas emissions, sometimes containing minor amounts of ash, rising from Popocatépetl each day during 6-13 September. Explosions at 0343 and 0611 on 9 September produced ash plumes that rose as high as 2.5 km above the crater rim and drifted SE, and ejected incandescent material above the rim. Minor ashfall was reported in Atlixco, Puebla (23 km SE). The Alert Level remained at Yellow, Phase Two (the middle level on a three-color scale).
Geological Summary. Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, rises 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 400 x 600 m wide crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas to the south. The modern volcano was constructed south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major Plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 CE, have occurred since the mid-Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since Pre-Columbian time.
Source: Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED)