Central American Volcanoes

Puffy Planets: Editor- Chase Historian- Caroline Human Interest- Abrielle Reporter- Riley

Volcano of the Day

The Central American Volcanic Arc (often abbreviated to CAVA) is a chain of volcanoes which extends parallel to the Pacific coast line of the Central American Isthmus, from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and down to northern Panama.Several volcanoes in Central America are currently active, including Arenal, Turrialba, Irazú, Poás in Costa Rica; Cerro Negro, San Cristóbal, Concepción in Nicaragua; Chaparrastique or San Miguel, Ilamatepec or Santa Ana, Izalco in El Salvador; Santa María/Santiaguito, Pacaya, Fuego in Guatemala. The CAVA includes hundreds of volcanic formations, ranging from major stratovolcanoes, to lava domes, and cinder cones. These towering mountains rise as high as 14,000 feet. The highest mountain is Guatemala. On each side of these highlands exists on along Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Fuego- 3/16-3/21 Picture taken by Lee Siebert in 1988

Located at 14°N , 91°W in Guatemala, it’s type is Stratovolcano. Its summit is 3,763 meters and its elevation is 12,343 feet. Last week from the sixteenth to the twenty-first Fuego was reported to have spewed ash clouds that rose 950 meters above the crated mouth and the clouds drifted west, south-west, and south. There were reports of ashfall is several areas including Santa Sofía, twelve kilometers southwest of the volcano. Shock waves and rumblings were heard and felt. Incredibly hot material was ejected from the crater as high as 200 meters above the rim of the crater.

Guatemala is home to 18 volcanoes. 14 of which are dormant, 3 are currently active spewing lava and ash, and one is dormant. The volcano Cuilapa-Barberena is extinct resting ar 14.33°N 90.4°W. The last known eruption was a few thousand years ago based on scientific findings. Currently there are 3 active volcanoes, Fuego, Pacaya, and Santiaguito. Pacaya is close to Guatemala city and is one of the most active volcanoes with more than 86 eruptions in the last 17 years. In 2013, there was almost at least one eruption every month. Guatemala is a very lively island of spewing lava and ash.

Human Interest:

How Fuego in Guatemala affects the people around it:

Volcanoes sometimes do not have negative effects, but many times volcanoes do have bad effects. When they erupt everything nearby and around them can be completely covered in ash. The volcano can also destroy houses and towns.  Volcanoes can at times be an extreme devastation for the population surrounding it. Sometimes, volcanoes are just little, not always a huge deal. They will just erupt a little, causing no harm or damage. When they are destructive they are a big problem and can be so harmful that they can kill people or completely ruin their homes and towns. In conclusion, there is a variety of types of volcanoes, some destructive, some not.

This Week Around the Ring of Fire

This post brought to you by the Go-To: Shack,HB, Kami & Karli

While there are many dangerous volcanoes, there are also some very interesting ones that have been active within these few weeks as talked about below. Currently there are 14 volcanoes that have been erupting for a while and the data has been recorded. These volcanoes are situated in several different places around the world, including Papua New Guinea, USA, México, Indonesia, Russia, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, and Costa Rica.

Recently there has been five newly active volcanoes around the world.

They are:  Manam, Nevados de Chillan, Etna, Bezymianny, and Chirinkotan. Manam is located in Papua New Guinea and has recently erupted on March 21. This volcano

spewed ash. Nevados de Chillan erupted through the days of March 15-17. This volcano poured a gas and ash cloud into the air. On March 15 Mt. Etna poured lava onto the earth. On March 16 there was an explosion that lifted currents of lava flow onto snow on the ground. Several people were injured. The volcano Chirinkotan erupted on March 21 and constructed an ash plume. Finally the volcano Bezymianny erupted throuugh March 10 -17. Gas and steam flumes were shot out.

Mt. Etna, a natural volcano is active right now and is located in Italy, on the world map as 37.7510° N, 14.9934° E. On the early morning of March 15th lava had begun to flow down the South flank of Mt. Etna’s SEC (South East Crater), in the evening the eruptive activity and seismicity had diminished gradually calming down until around midnight of that same day a new flow of lava had started from a vent on the Southern flank of Mt. Etna’s cone. Next day, March 16th at 1243 a phreato-magmatic explosion had started at the front of a lava flow, later it had made contact with a small area of snow. The explosive activity has injured so far 11 people including an INGV-Osservatorio Etneo volcanologist. ( Information taken from Global Volcanism Program, 2017. Report on Etna (Italy). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 March-21 March 2017. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey. )

Bezymianny                                                    

                 

Chirinkotan

Etna

Manam

Nevados de Chillan

These photos were taken from: http://volcano.si.edu/reports_weekly.cfm#vn_290260