Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Cerro Prieto.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Cerro Prieto.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Cerro Prieto.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

341000

Unknown - Evidence Uncertain

223 m / 732 ft

32.418°N
115.305°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Minor

Volcano Types
Lava dome

Rock Types

Major
Dacite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Rhyolite

Tectonic Setting

Rift zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

4,506
15,945
571,710
1,308,761

Geological Summary

The Cerro Prieto geothermal field is located at the head of the Gulf of California, 35 km south of the city of Mexicali. Cerro Prieto lies in an active continental rift that is transitional between the transform San Andreas fault system to the north and a spreading ridge of the East Pacific Rise in the Gulf of California to the south. The only surficial volcanic feature at Cerro Prieto, which is located near sea level on the Colorado River delta, is a small, 223-m-high compound dacitic lava dome. A 200-m-wide crater is located at the summit of the NE-most dome. The Cerro Prieto dome was roughly estimated from paleomagnetic evidence to have formed during a series of events between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago. Cucupas Indian legends described a monster that covered the land with hot rocks, which grew through the soil and emitted fire tongues, a possible reference to the growth of the volcano.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Beal C H, 1948. Reconnaissance of the geology and oil possibilities of Baja California, Mexico. Geol Soc Amer Mem, 31: 1-138.

de Boer J Z, 1980. Paleomagnetism of the Quaternary Cerro Prieto, Crater Elegante, and Salton Buttes volcanic domes in the northern part of the Gulf of California rhombochasm. Proc 2nd Symp Cerro Prieto Geotherm Field, Baja Calif, Mexico, p 91-102.

Gastil R G, Phillips R P, Allison E C, 1975. Reconnaissance geology of the State of Baja California. Geol Soc Amer Mem, 140: 1-170.

Herzig C T, 1990. Geochemistry of igneous rocks from the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, northern Baja California, Mexico. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 42: 261-271.

Medina F, Suarez F, Espindola J M, 1989. Historic and Holocene volcanic centers in NW Mexico. Bulletin of Volcanology, 51 (Suppl 1), p. 91–93 [also Bulletin of Volcanic Eruptions 26 (March 1989), p. 91-93].. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01197481

Reed M J, 1976. Geology and hydrothermal metamorphism in the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, Mexico. In: Proc 2nd United Nations Symp Devel Use Geotherm Resour, San Francisco, Washington D C: U S Government Printing Office, 1: 539-547.

Reed M J, 1984. Relationship between volcanism and hydrothermal activity at Cerro Prieto, Mexico. Trans Geotherm Res Council, 8: 217-221.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Cerro Prieto. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Cerro Prieto page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Cerro Prieto.

Photo Gallery

The Cerro Prieto geothermal field on the Colorado River delta in NW México, seen here in 1998, is a large producing geothermal field. This view shows the Unit 1 power plant. Exploration drilling began in 1959 and by the mid-1980s more than 100 wells had been drilled to depths as great as 3.5 km. Despite few surface volcanic features, the hydrothermal system covers an area of more than 100 km².

Photo by Pat Dobson, 1998 (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).

The Cerro Prieto lava dome is seen here beyond an evaporation pond of the Cerro Prieto geothermal field at the head of the Gulf of California, 35 km south of the city of Mexicali. The first geothermal power plants began operation at Cerro Prieto in 1973; nine power plants and about 130 wells were in operation in 1997.

Photo by Pat Dobson, 1998 (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).

Cerro Prieto is a compound rhyodacite lava dome and is the only volcanic feature of the major Cerro Prieto geothermal field. It is the northernmost volcanic field in México and rises above the arid floor of the Imperial valley at the head of the Gulf of California, 35 km south of the city of Mexicali. The dome was constructed along a NE-trending fracture and a 200-m-wide crater is located at the summit of the NE-most dome.

Photo by Marshall Reed, 1959 (U.S. Department of Energy).

The Cerro Prieto compound rhyodacite lava dome is the only volcanic feature of the Cerro Prieto geothermal field. A 200-m-wide crater is located at the summit of the NE-most dome. The dome probably formed during at least five eruptive stages between about 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, with both magmatic and phreatic activity. Explorers in the mid-1500s reported steam and sulfuric gases.

Photo by Brian Hausback, 1995 (California State University, Sacramento).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Cerro Prieto in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

Volcanic Hazard Maps

The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Cerro Prieto. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Cerro Prieto. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

DECADE Data

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere, but installing CO₂ monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

Large Eruptions of Cerro Prieto

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).