The Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería (INGEOMINAS) reported an increase in seismic activity (earthquakes) beneath Nevado del Ruiz, a 5231 m stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of layers of lava and ash) in the Los Nevados National Natural Park, at the northern end of the Ruiz-Tolima Volcanic Massif in Columbia on Monday 13 July 2015. Such Earthquakes are significant as they are often caused by magma moving in chambers beneath the volcano, and can be indicative of forthcoming eruptions. This was followed by a series of small ash eruptions which lead to ashfalls in villages up to 30 km from the volcano. This activity continued till Saturday 18 July, when the Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center reported a large eruption at about 5.30 am which produced an ash column rising 6.1 km above the mountain. A second smaller eruption was reported on 19 July, this time producing an ash column about 1 km in height.
Ash column over Nevado del Ruiz on 19 July 2015. Volcano Discovery.
The Ruiz-Tolima Volcanic Massif runs north-to-south parallel to the Parallel to the Pacific Coast of Columbia. It is fed by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate along the Peru-Chile Tench, which runs approximately parallel to the entire western coast of South America. As the Nazca Plate it sinks into the Earth's interior it is heated by the planet's interior heat. This melts minerals within the subducting plate, some of which then rise through the overlying South American Plate as magma, fueling volcanoes in the Andes along the full extent of the South American west coast.
The approximate location of Nevado del Ruiz. Google Maps.
See also...
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The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.0 Earthquake at a depth of 28.4 km in southern Tolima Department, Columbia, at about...
The Observatorio Vulcanológico and Sismológico de Popayán reported a sharp rise in seismic activity under Mount Sotará in southeast Columbia this month, with 110 Earth tremors of magnitudes between 0.2 and 1.6 at depths of 2-6 km, within 5 km of the summit between...
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