Report on Sangay (Ecuador) — 11 June-17 June 2025
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 11 June-17 June 2025
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Written by USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program Staff.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2025. Report on Sangay (Ecuador) (USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program Staff and Sennert, S, eds.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 11 June-17 June 2025. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Sangay
Ecuador
2.005°S, 78.341°W; summit elev. 5286 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
The Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN) reported that the eruption continued at Sangay during 11-17 June. The seismic network recorded 122-217 explosions each day during 10-15 June, no explosion count was reported on 16 June, and on 17 June there were 64 explosions. Daily ash-and-gas plumes were observed in webcam and/or satellite images rising as high as 2.5 km above the summit and drifting downwind, though weather clouds often obscured views. The surveillance camera network recorded several instances of incandescent material descending the flanks as far as 1 km during 10-17 June. Secretaría de Gestión de Riesgos (SGR) maintained the Alert Level at Yellow (the second highest level on a four-color scale).
Geological Summary. The isolated Sangay volcano, located east of the Andean crest, is the southernmost of Ecuador's volcanoes and its most active. The steep-sided, glacier-covered, dominantly andesitic volcano grew within the open calderas of two previous edifices which were destroyed by collapse to the east, producing large debris avalanches that reached the Amazonian lowlands. The modern edifice dates back to at least 14,000 years ago. It towers above the tropical jungle on the east side; on the other sides flat plains of ash have been eroded by heavy rains into steep-walled canyons up to 600 m deep. The earliest report of an eruption was in 1628. Almost continuous eruptions were reported from 1728 until 1916, and again from 1934 to the present. The almost constant activity has caused frequent changes to the morphology of the summit crater complex.
Sources: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN), Secretaría de Gestión de Riesgos (SGR)
