Over 1000 people have been evacuated from five communities close to Mount Fuego, a 3768 m high stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and lava) that forms part of La Horqueta volcanic complex in the southern part of Guatemala, after a sudden increase in volcanic activity on Thursday 4 May 2023. The volcano produced a column of ash which reached about 5800 m above sealevel (about 2000 m above the summit of the volcano) as well as several pyroclastic flows (avalanches of hot ash and gas). A number of flights had to be diverted away from the region as a precaution, and communities within 7 km of the volcano have been evacuated as a precaution.
Fuego has been more-or-less constantly active at some level since records in the area began (circa 1524). It forms part of La Horqueta volcanic complex, which also includes the Acatenango volcano to the north, a complex volcano with at least five separate vents, the complex siting on the site of the ancient Meseta volcano, which is thought to have collapsed following a major volcanic episode about 8500 years ago, causing a debris flow that reached the sea, 50 km away.
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.
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