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Apoyo

Photo of this volcano
  • Country
  • Primary Volcano Type
  • Last Known Eruption
  •  
  • 11.92°N
  • 86.03°W

  • 600 m
    1969 ft

  • 344802
  • Latitude
  • Longitude

  • Summit
    Elevation

  • Volcano
    Number

Most Recent Bulletin Report: July 2000 (BGVN 25:07) Citation IconCite this Report

Tectonic seismicity between Apoyo and Masaya in July 2000

[The following was originally included within the Masaya report, not as a stand-alone report about Apoyo.]

July 2000 seismicity near Masaya and Laguna de Apoyo. During July 2000 there were over 300 earthquakes near Laguna de Apoyo (Apoyo volcano) and Masaya. The earthquakes, determined to be of tectonic rather than volcanic origin, caused surficial damage at both volcanoes.

At 1329 on 6 July a small M 2 earthquake occurred near the N rim of Laguna de Apoyo that was followed at 1330 by a M 5.4 earthquake (figure 1). It was located ~32 km SE of Managua, at 11.96°N, 86.02°E, with a focal depth less than 1 km (figure 2). The earthquake was felt in most of Nicaragua and was most strongly felt in the cities of Managua (Modified Mercalli V-VI) and Masaya (VI), and in the region near Laguna de Apoyo (maximum intensity of VII or VIII). The earthquake caused numerous landslides down the volcano's crater walls and surface faulting was observed. In towns located in the epicentral zone, trees and electric lines fell and many houses were partially or totally destroyed. About 70 people were injured and four children were killed by collapsing walls or roofs of homes. At Masaya volcano, ~8 km from the epicenter, there were minor collapses of Santiago crater's walls. No change in degassing was observed at the volcano.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 1. Seismogram showing the M 2 and M 5.4 earthquakes near the Masaya volcano station on 6 July 2000. Courtesy of INETER.
Figure (see Caption) Figure 2. Epicenters near Masaya for the M 5.4 earthquake on 6 July, and the M 4.8 earthquake on 25 July 2000 (stars). The aftershocks from these earthquakes are also shown (small circles). Courtesy of INETER.

Immediately after the earthquake there were many smaller, shallow earthquakes in a zone that includes the area between Masaya, Laguna de Apoyo, and W of Granada (figure 2). In the epicentral zone property was destroyed, cracks opened in the ground, landslides occurred, and trees fell. Several landslides occurred at the edges and steep walls of Laguna de Apoyo. A large number of earthquakes continued until 10 July (figure 3 and table 1). The number of earthquakes then diminished until 1554 on 25 July when a M 4.8 earthquake took place, initiating a series of smaller earthquakes that lasted until about 27 July.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 3. Graph showing the number of earthquakes in the Masaya region between 4 and 30 July 2000. Courtesy of INETER.

Table 1. A summary of earthquakes in vicinity of Masaya and Laguna de Apoyo in early July 2000. Courtesy of INETER.

Date Time Number of daily earthquakes Maximum magnitude
07 Jul 2000 1330 180 5.2
08 Jul 2000 1100 70 3.8
09 Jul 2000 1200 81 3.6
10 Jul 2000 1800 27 3.1
11 Jul 2000 1800 6 3.3
13 Jul 2000 1800 16 2.8

The July earthquakes were the most destructive seismic events since the 1972 Managua earthquake. The epicentral zone of the July 2000 earthquakes correlates with the same active zones of past earthquakes, which are caused by fault movement between the Cocos and Caribbean plates.

Information Contacts: Wilfried Strauch and Virginia Tenorio, Dirección General de Geofísica, Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), Apartado 1761, Managua, Nicaragua (URL: http://www.ineter.gob.ni/).

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Apoyo.

Bulletin Reports - Index

Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.

01/1988 (SEAN 13:01) No fumarolic activity; lake temperature measured

02/1991 (BGVN 16:02) No fumarolic or seismic activity

06/1997 (BGVN 22:06) On 8 June, a M 3.7 tectonic earthquake struck this reposing caldera

07/2000 (BGVN 25:07) Tectonic seismicity between Apoyo and Masaya in July 2000




Information is preliminary and subject to change. All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


January 1988 (SEAN 13:01) Citation IconCite this Report

No fumarolic activity; lake temperature measured

No fumarolic activity or hot springs were observed 18 January 1988 at locations previously reported active. Lake surface temperature was 28.2-29.1°C at 0940.

Information Contacts: B. van Wyk de Vries, H. Rymer, and G.C. Brown, Dept of Earth Sciences, Open Univ; P. Hradecky and H. Taleno, INETER.


February 1991 (BGVN 16:02) Citation IconCite this Report

No fumarolic or seismic activity

"No fumarolic or seismic activity was detected in 1990."

Information Contacts: B. van Wyk de Vries, O. Castellón, A. Murales, and V. Tenorio, INETER.


June 1997 (BGVN 22:06) Citation IconCite this Report

On 8 June, a M 3.7 tectonic earthquake struck this reposing caldera

A swarm of seismic events was observed in June 1997, centered on the E flank of the Laguna de Apoyo. The strongest event was M 3.7 on 8 June. This and many other events were felt with maximum modified Mercalli intensity of IV in nearby villages and Granada city (10 km from Apoyo). The events were of tectonic character.

Information Contacts: Wilfried Strauch, Department of Geophysics, and Marta Navarro C., Department of Volcanoes, Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), P.O. Box 1761, Managua, Nicaragua.


July 2000 (BGVN 25:07) Citation IconCite this Report

Tectonic seismicity between Apoyo and Masaya in July 2000

[The following was originally included within the Masaya report, not as a stand-alone report about Apoyo.]

July 2000 seismicity near Masaya and Laguna de Apoyo. During July 2000 there were over 300 earthquakes near Laguna de Apoyo (Apoyo volcano) and Masaya. The earthquakes, determined to be of tectonic rather than volcanic origin, caused surficial damage at both volcanoes.

At 1329 on 6 July a small M 2 earthquake occurred near the N rim of Laguna de Apoyo that was followed at 1330 by a M 5.4 earthquake (figure 1). It was located ~32 km SE of Managua, at 11.96°N, 86.02°E, with a focal depth less than 1 km (figure 2). The earthquake was felt in most of Nicaragua and was most strongly felt in the cities of Managua (Modified Mercalli V-VI) and Masaya (VI), and in the region near Laguna de Apoyo (maximum intensity of VII or VIII). The earthquake caused numerous landslides down the volcano's crater walls and surface faulting was observed. In towns located in the epicentral zone, trees and electric lines fell and many houses were partially or totally destroyed. About 70 people were injured and four children were killed by collapsing walls or roofs of homes. At Masaya volcano, ~8 km from the epicenter, there were minor collapses of Santiago crater's walls. No change in degassing was observed at the volcano.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 1. Seismogram showing the M 2 and M 5.4 earthquakes near the Masaya volcano station on 6 July 2000. Courtesy of INETER.
Figure (see Caption) Figure 2. Epicenters near Masaya for the M 5.4 earthquake on 6 July, and the M 4.8 earthquake on 25 July 2000 (stars). The aftershocks from these earthquakes are also shown (small circles). Courtesy of INETER.

Immediately after the earthquake there were many smaller, shallow earthquakes in a zone that includes the area between Masaya, Laguna de Apoyo, and W of Granada (figure 2). In the epicentral zone property was destroyed, cracks opened in the ground, landslides occurred, and trees fell. Several landslides occurred at the edges and steep walls of Laguna de Apoyo. A large number of earthquakes continued until 10 July (figure 3 and table 1). The number of earthquakes then diminished until 1554 on 25 July when a M 4.8 earthquake took place, initiating a series of smaller earthquakes that lasted until about 27 July.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 3. Graph showing the number of earthquakes in the Masaya region between 4 and 30 July 2000. Courtesy of INETER.

Table 1. A summary of earthquakes in vicinity of Masaya and Laguna de Apoyo in early July 2000. Courtesy of INETER.

Date Time Number of daily earthquakes Maximum magnitude
07 Jul 2000 1330 180 5.2
08 Jul 2000 1100 70 3.8
09 Jul 2000 1200 81 3.6
10 Jul 2000 1800 27 3.1
11 Jul 2000 1800 6 3.3
13 Jul 2000 1800 16 2.8

The July earthquakes were the most destructive seismic events since the 1972 Managua earthquake. The epicentral zone of the July 2000 earthquakes correlates with the same active zones of past earthquakes, which are caused by fault movement between the Cocos and Caribbean plates.

Information Contacts: Wilfried Strauch and Virginia Tenorio, Dirección General de Geofísica, Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), Apartado 1761, Managua, Nicaragua (URL: http://www.ineter.gob.ni/).

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

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Apoyo. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 10,000 years ago, information might be found on the Apoyo page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Apoyo.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Apoyo.

Photo Gallery

The 7-km-wide, lake-filled Apoyo caldera is seen here from the W with Lake Nicaragua in the distance beyond its low eastern caldera rim. The surface of Laguna de Apoyo is 78 m above sea level. The steep caldera walls rise about 100 m along the eastern rim and up to 500 m along the western rim (foreground). The caldera was formed during two major dacitic explosive eruptions radiocarbon dated at about 23,000 years BP.

Photo by Jaime Incer.
The 7-km-wide, lake-filled Apoyo caldera, seen here from the NW with Mombacho volcano in the background, is a large silicic volcanic center immediately SE of Masaya caldera. An early shield volcano constructed of basaltic-to-andesitic lava flows and small rhyodacitic lava domes collapsed following two major dacitic explosive eruptions about 23,000 years ago. Post-caldera ring-fracture eruptions formed the Granada cinder cones and La Joya collapse craters along fracture systems to the east of the caldera. The age of the latest activity is not known.

Photo by Alain Creusot-Eon, courtesy of Jaime Incer, 1968.
The circular Apoyo caldera is filled by beautiful Laguna de Apoyo. The NE caldera wall in the background rises about 120 m above the surface of the lake, which is only 78 m above sea level. The only road access to the lake is along its western shore. The caldera was formed by collapse along near-vertical faults following two major dacitic explosive eruptions about 23,000 years ago from a vent area inferred to be near the NE part of the caldera.

Photo by Jaime Incer.
A vigorous steam plume pours from Masaya volcano in this November 9, 1984 Space Shuttle image taken near the end of a two-decade-long eruptive episode. North lies to the lower right, with Lake Nicaragua at the lower left and Lake Managua at the lower right. To the left of the plume from Santiago crater is Lake Masaya (ponded against the rim of Masaya caldera) and the circular lake-filled Apoyo caldera. The two caldera lakes at the lower right are Apoyeque (light blue) and Jiloa (dark-colored), across the bay from the city of Managua.

NASA Space Shuttle image STS51A-32-64, 1984 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).
Two major scarps cutting Mombacho volcano (left-center) were the sources of major debris avalanches. The arcuate peninsula and island chain extending into Lake Nicaragua (known as Las Isletas or Isletas de Granada) was produced by collapse of Mombacho to the NE. The island at the right is Zapatera, a small shield volcano and maar complex. The lake at the far left fills late-Pleistocene Apoyo caldera, and the roughly N-S-trending Granada cinder cone alignment lies NNW of Mombacho and east of Lake Apoyo in this NASA Space Shuttle image (with north to the upper left).

NASA Space Shuttle image STS081-742-25, 1997 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).
The 6.5-km-diameter Apoyo caldera formed during two Plinian eruptions around 24,000 years ago, seen in this March 2019 Planet Labs satellite image monthly mosaic (N is at the top; this image is approximately 13 km across). The caldera was created within broad lavas that formed the previous edifice.

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

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. The maps database originated over 30 years ago, but was only recently updated and connected to our main database. We welcome users to tell us if they see incorrect information or other problems with the maps; please use the Contact GVP link at the bottom of the page to send us email.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

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

External Sites