- El Chichón
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El Chichón
Aerial view on 1982-11-04, seven months after the eruptionElevation ~ 1,205 metres (3,953 ft) Location Francisco León, Chiapas, Mexico Coordinates 17°21′36″N 93°13′40″W / 17.36°N 93.22778°WCoordinates: 17°21′36″N 93°13′40″W / 17.36°N 93.22778°W Geology Type Lava domes Age of rock 220,000 yr Volcanic arc/belt Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc Last eruption 1982 El Chichón, also known as El Chichonal (roughly translated in English as "The bump") is an active volcano in Francisco León Municipality in northwestern Chiapas, Mexico. Its only recorded eruptive activity was on March 29, April 3 and April 4, 1982 [1], when it produced a one km-wide caldera that then filled with an acidic crater lake. The eruption killed around 2,000 people who lived near the volcano.[2] It had high-sulfur anhydrite-bearing magma, explosive eruptions, pyroclastic flows, and surges that were devastating.
In 2000, the lake's water temperature increased. Also, the lake acquired a blue-green color, due to massive amounts of dissolved minerals in the acidic water, and fine, light-colored ashy sediment continually stirred up by boiling areas.
El Chichon is part of a geologic zone known as the Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc. This volcanic region is thought to be the result of the subduction of the Tehuantepec Ridge, an undersea ridge which lies on the Cocos Plate off the Pacific coast of Mexico.[3]
Contents
Gallery
Solar radiation transmittance measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory (Hawaii); the eruption of El Chichón caused a decrease of ~16%See also
References
- ^ Alan Robock (2002). "Volcanic Eruption, El Chichón" (PDF). http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/EGECElChichon.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ El Chichon eruption - April 1982, Mexico (inTERRAgate)
- ^ Vlad C. Manea and Marina Manea (2005). "The origin of modern chiapanecan volcanic arc in southern mexico inferred from thermal models" (PDF). http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~raman/papers2/Manea_Chiapas_2005.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
External links
Categories:- Volcanoes of Mexico
- Crater lakes
- VEI-5 volcanoes
- Chiapas geography stubs
- Volcanology stubs
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