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Lago Yojoa

Photo of this volcano
  • Country
  • Volcanic Region
  • Landform | Volc Type
  • Last Known Eruption
  • 14.964°N
  • 87.983°W

  • 1,060 m
    3,478 ft

  • 343150
  • Latitude
  • Longitude

  • Summit
    Elevation

  • Volcano
    Number

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Lago Yojoa.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Lago Yojoa.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Lago Yojoa.

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.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 2 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

7638 BCE ± 118 years Confirmed Eruption  

Episode 1 | Eruption
7638 BCE ± 118 years - Unknown Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (calibrated)

11073 BCE ± 173 years Confirmed Eruption  

Episode 1 | Eruption
11073 BCE ± 173 years - Unknown Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (calibrated)
Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Lago Yojoa.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Lago Yojoa.

Photo Gallery

El Volcán is the oldest and most dissected of a group of pyroclastic cones north of Lake Yojoa. El Volcán lies at the SE end of the cluster of cones near the lake. The cone, now mantled by scoria from younger cones, fed a series of basaltic lava flows that underlie a flat valley to the SE (to the right of this photo).

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).
Cerro el Hoyo lies at the SE end of a subsidiary NW-SE-trending chain of pyroclastic cones of the Lake Yojoa volcanic field about 2 km NE of the lakeshore. The cones are surrounded by lava fields that are partially tholeiitic in composition, but mostly consist of trachytes, trachybasalts, and trachyandesites with large phenocrysts of sanadine and anorthoclase.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).
The SW-most of a chain of NE-trending cinder cones is the largest of a cluster of cones north of Lake Yojoa. This large cone was constructed at the intersection of two roughly orthogonal chains of young pyroclastic cones. The cones of the Lake Yojoa volcanic field were built along fissures; these parallel faults that also define the rectilinear shores of the lake and cut Cretaceous limestones on the west side of the lake.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).
A large low-rimmed crater lies immediately WNW of Cerro el Hoyo. The floor of the crater has been planted with sugar cane, and other crops line the walls of the crater. The scale of the 1-km-wide crater is deceiving--note the barely visible truck and sugar cane workers on the crater floor at the left center.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).
This eastern side of forested Cerro Babilonia cinder cone rises above fields north of Lake Yojoa in north-central Honduras. The 1090-m-high cone is the highest of a chain of Pleistocene-to-Holocene scoria cones at the northern end of the lake. The cones were constructed along orthogonal NW-SE- and NE-SW-trending lines and consist of basaltic scoria and agglutinate. The are typically 100-200 m in height and several contain well-preserved craters. Lava flows radiate in all directions from the cones.

Photo by Rick Wunderman, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).
The Lake Yojoa volcanic field forms the entire northern shore of the 10 x 12 km lake, the largest in Honduras, in this International Space Station image with north to the upper left. Cretaceous limestones lie west of the lake, and Tertiary volcanic rocks to the east. Vents of the volcanic field, which extends to the top of the image, are concentrated along two NW- and NE-trending lines. The Lake Yojoa volcanic field has produced both tholeiitic and alkaline basaltic rocks.

NASA International Space Station image ISS001-350-18, 2001 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).
The Lake Yojoa volcanic field in Honduras is located along the northern shore of Lake Yojoa, shown in this October 2019 Planet Labs satellite image monthly mosaic (N is at the top; this image is approximately 12 km across). The field contains scoria and spatter cones and lava flows, with the Cerro el Hoyo in the bottom-center, to the W is the smaller Cerro el Copito cone on the other side of the larger unnamed crater, and Cerro Babilonia in the center of the top of the image.

Satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc., 2019 (https://www.planet.com/).
GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

The maps shown below have been scanned from the GVP map archives and include the volcano on this page. Clicking on the small images will load the full 300 dpi map. Very small-scale maps (such as world maps) are not included.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

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

External Sites