Explosive eruption on Mount Turrialba.

The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional reported a short explosive eruption which lasted about ten minutes, beginning slightly after 1.10 pm local time on Monday 7 December 2015. The eruption produced an ash column about 400 m high that drifted to the west, potentially leading to ashfalls in the outer suburbs of northeastern San Jose. Turriabla has been erupting intermittently since 2010, after a quite phase that lasted from 1886, though it has been mostly quiet in the second half of 2015.

Explosive eruption on Mount Turrialba, Costa Rica, on 7 December 2015. Red Sismológica Nacional/Universidad de Costa Rica.

Turrialba forms part of the Cordillera Central, a range of volcanic mountains running through central Costa Rica and forming part of the Central American Arc. These volcanoes are fueled by the subduction of the Cocos Plate, which underlies part of the east Pacific Ocean, beneath the Caribbean Plate, on which Central America lies, along the Middle American Trench, which lies off the south coast of the country. As the Cocos Plate is subducted it is gradually melted by the heat and pressure of the Earth's interior, with some more volatile minerals rising through the overlying Caribbean Plate as volcanic magma.

 Diagram showing the passage of the Cocos Plate beneath Costa Rica (not to scale). Carleton College.

See also...

Eruption on Mount Turrialba, Costa Rica. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional reported an eruption on Mount Turrialba, a stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of...

Magnitude 4.6 Earthquake off the coast of Limón Province, Costa Rica.             The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.6 Earthquake at a depth of 18 km, slightly off the coast of Limón Province in northeast Costa...

 Phreatic eruption on Mount Poás.

The  Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica reported a large phreatic eruption on Mount Poás, a volcano in the central part of the country, slightly after noon local time (slightly after 6.00 pm GMT) on Tuesday 25 February 2014. Phreatic eruptions occur when...

 

 

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