Global Volcanism Program | Northern Atenguillo

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Northern Atenguillo.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Northern Atenguillo.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Northern Atenguillo.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

341817

Pleistocene

1,700 m / 5,577 ft

20.75°N
104.5°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Shield(s)

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Geological Summary

An extensive Pliocene-Pleistocene volcanic field is located at the northern end of the Atenguillo graben in the Jalisco tectonic block of western México. Pleistocene volcanism has occurred at two locations at the southern and northern ends of the field. Potassium-Argon ages of 0.65 and 0.67 Ma (million years) were obtained from the Las Laja shield volcano at the southern end of the field. Initial phreatomagmatic eruptions at La Laja produced pyroclastic-surge and airfall deposits associated with formation of a tuff ring or tuff cone. Subsequent extrusion of a thick sequence of lava flows formed the symmetrical shield volcano. The flows blocked the Río Atenguillo, forming an ephemeral 20-km-long lake, and the initial flows produced pillow lavas. El Rosario, the northernmost known Pleistocene vent of the Atenguillo graben, forms an alkali-basaltic lava plateau and has a Potassium-Argon age of 0.64 Ma.

References

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

Righter K, Carmichael I S E, 1992. Hawaiites and related lavas in the Atenguillo graben, western Mexican volcanic belt. Geol Soc Amer Bull, 104: 1592-1607.

Eruptive History

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

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Laja, La
Laja los Cerritos, Cerro la

Shield volcano

1700 m

20° 33' 0.00" N

104° 30' 0.00" W

Rosario, El

Vent

20° 50' 0.00" N

104° 29' 0.00" W

Photo Gallery

The terraced Río Ameca valley cuts through flat-lying basaltic lava plateaus of the Northern Atenguillo volcanic field of Pliocene-to-early Pleistocene age. The northernmost of these basaltic plateaus, El Rosario, has been dated at about 640,000 years.

Photo by Paul Wallace, 1998 (University of California Berkeley).

The low-angle La Laja shield volcano lies at the southern end of the Plio-Pleistocene Northern Atenguillo volcanic field in the Jalisco tectonic block of western México. La Laja was dated at about 660,000 years. Initial phreatomagmatic eruptions at La Laja produced pyroclastic-surge and airfall deposits. These were followed by the extrusion of a thick sequence of lava flows that built the symmetrical shield volcano. The flows blocked the Río Atenguillo, forming an ephemeral 20-km-long lake.

Photo by Paul Wallace, 1998 (University of California Berkeley).

Cerro La Cienega is a broad andesitic shield volcano that lies east of the Atenguillo river near the center of the Northern Atenguillo volcanic field. It is one of three Pliocene andesitic centers in the volcanic field, which also includes the La Laja shield volcano and the El Rosario lava plateau of Pleistocene age.

Photo by Paul Wallace, 1998 (University of California Berkeley).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Northern Atenguillo 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.

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.

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 Northern Atenguillo. 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 Northern Atenguillo. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Northern Atenguillo

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).