Tuesday 3 May 2016

Exclusion zone established around Mount Turriabla after a series of eruptions on Sunday 1 May 2016.

The Costa Rican Comisión Nacional de Emergencias has established a five kilometer exclusion zone around Mount Turrialba, a stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and lava) in the central part of the country following a series of explosive eruptions on Sunday 1 May 2016. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional reported about 30 eruptions on Sunday (when volcanic eruptions become very frequent it becomes difficult to separtae out individual events), with as many as five eruptions in an hour at the peak of activity. A single eruption was recorded on Monday 2 May, slightly after 5.10 am local time. Ash falls were recorded in the villages of La Pastora and Santa Cruz de Turrialba to the south of the volcano. At the current time no evacuations have been ordered, but schools have remained closed in Reunion, Sitio Las Abras, Virtues and La Pastora.

  Eruption on Mount Turrialba on Sunday 1 May 2016. 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...

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/eruption-on-rincon-de-la-vieja-costa.htmlEruption on Rincón de la Vieja, Costa Rica. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional reported a small eruption on Rincón de la Vieja, an active volcano in the northwest of the country, at about 4.20 pm local time on Tuesday 15 March...

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/explosive-eruption-on-mount-turrialba.htmlExplosive 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...


http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/eruption-on-mount-turrialba-costa-rica.htmlEruption 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...


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