The Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia in
Guatemala has reported an explosive eruption on Mount Santiaguito on Sunday 28 August 2016, which produced a dense ash column 2.5 km high that drifted to the west. Several pyroclastic flows were sighted on the slopes of the mountain. Ash falls were reported in the communities of San Marcos, Loma Linda, and Palajunoj. Heavy rainfall on the next day, Monday 29 August, triggered a lahar on the southern flanks of the mountain, which carried tree trunks and blocks up to 1.5 m across into the Cabello de Ángel, a tributary of the Nimá. There are no reports of any injuries or damage to property.
Lahars are ash-laden flash floods associated with volcanoes. They can be caused directly by volcanic eruptions, for example when hot lava encounters a glacial lake rapidly destroying an ice dam, but are also common in areas of high seasonal rainfall, where ash deposits from a volcano can build up during the dry season, creating dams on seasonal waterways, which temporarily halt the flow of water, then give way rapidly leading to dramatic flash floods.
The volcanoes of Guatemala, and Central America in general, are fed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Middle American Trench, which runs roughly parallel to the southwest coast of the isthmus. As the Cocos Plate sinks into the Earth, it passes under Central America, which lies on the western margin of the Caribbean Plate. As this happens it is heated by the friction and the heat of the planet's interior, causing the sinking plate to partially melt. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Caribbean Plate as magma, fueling the volcanoes of Central America.
See also...
Explosive eruptions on Mount Santiaguito, Guatemala. The Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia in
Guatemala has reported a series of small eruptions on Mount Fuego...
Eruptions on Mount Fuego, Guatemala. The Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia in
Guatemala has reported a series of small eruptions on Mount Fuego a
stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of...
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Lahar on the southern flanks of Mount Santiaguito on 29 August 2016. Conred.
Lahars are ash-laden flash floods associated with volcanoes. They can be caused directly by volcanic eruptions, for example when hot lava encounters a glacial lake rapidly destroying an ice dam, but are also common in areas of high seasonal rainfall, where ash deposits from a volcano can build up during the dry season, creating dams on seasonal waterways, which temporarily halt the flow of water, then give way rapidly leading to dramatic flash floods.
The volcanoes of Guatemala, and Central America in general, are fed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Middle American Trench, which runs roughly parallel to the southwest coast of the isthmus. As the Cocos Plate sinks into the Earth, it passes under Central America, which lies on the western margin of the Caribbean Plate. As this happens it is heated by the friction and the heat of the planet's interior, causing the sinking plate to partially melt. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Caribbean Plate as magma, fueling the volcanoes of Central America.
See also...
Explosive eruptions on Mount Santiaguito, Guatemala. The Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia in
Guatemala has reported a series of small eruptions on Mount Fuego...Eruptions on Mount Fuego, Guatemala. The Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia in
Guatemala has reported a series of small eruptions on Mount Fuego a
stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of...
Twenty-six
people have been confirmed dean and another thirty-six people are known
to have been injured following a landslide which struck the town of
Santa Catarina Pinula in southern Guatemala late...
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