Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) — 14 August-20 August 2024
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 14 August-20 August 2024
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2024. Report on Popocatepetl (Mexico) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 14 August-20 August 2024. 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 eruptive activity continued at Popocatépetl during 13-20 August. The seismic network recorded 25-105 long-period events per day that were accompanied by steam-and-gas emissions which sometimes contained minor amounts of ash. The seismic network also recorded daily periods of tremor as short as nine and a half minutes to as long almost two hours. During 13-15 and 18-19 August there were a few periods, 32-59 minutes long, of continuous emissions. Three volcano-tectonic earthquakes were recorded during 16-17 August. According to the Washington VAAC gas plumes with mostly low ash content were identified in both webcam and satellite images during 13-15 and 17 August and rose to 6.1-6.7 km (20,000-22,000 ft) a.s.l. (or as high as 1.3 km above the crater rim) and drifted N, NW, W, and SW. A thermal anaonly was identified in a satellite at 0951 on 14 August. The Alert Level remained at Yellow, Phase Two (the middle level on a three-color scale) and the public was warned to stay 12 km away from the crater.
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.
Sources: Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)