Nicaragua’s Volcán Concepción spewed smoke and ash into the air
Nicaragua’s Concepcion volcano erupted Saturday spewing smoke into the air and showering ash on nearby villages. Nicaragua’s Ineter geophysics agency has alerted the authorities about the possibility of further eruptions.
Dozens of mud structures in the area were damaged and a dozen people injured in 2005 episode of seismic activity at Volcán Concepción.
Volcán Concepción is one of Nicaragua’s highest and most active volcanoes. The symmetrical basaltic-to-dacitic stratovolcano forms the NW half of the dumbbell-shaped island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua and is connected to neighboring Madera volcano by a narrow isthmus. A steep-walled summit crater is 250 m deep and has a higher western rim. N-S-trending fractures on the flanks of the volcano have produced chains of spatter cones, cinder cones, lava domes, and maars located on the NW, NE, SE, and southern sides extending in some cases down to Lake Nicaragua. Concepción was constructed above a basement of lake sediments, and the modern cone grew above a largely buried caldera, a small remnant of which forms a break in slope about halfway up the north flank. Frequent explosive eruptions during the past half century have increased the height of the summit significantly above that shown on current topographic maps and have kept the upper part of the volcano unvegetated. Photo by Jaime Incer. Caption by GVP
Volcán Concepción Details
Last Known Eruption: 2007
Summit Elevation: 1,700? m (5,577 feet)
Latitude: 11.538°N (11°32’16″N)
Longitude: 85.622°W (85°37’21″W)
Source: GVP
Meanwhile
Soufrière Hills Volcano spewed pyroclastic debris, forcing evacuations of Zone C
MVO raised the Hazard Level to 4 on 10 December, making Zone C off limit, and allowing only daytime access to Zone B.
Soufrière Hills Volcano in Montserrat spews ash into the air.
MVO had previously reported high level of activity at the Soufrière Hills Volcano citing ” nine hundred and fifty seven rockfall signals, two hundred and seven long period events, three volcano tectonic and one hundred and six hybrid earthquakes recorded. Activity has continued in cycles although these cycles have become more irregular in time in the last few days.”
“Pyroclastic flow and rockfall activity has been concentrated on the northern side of the volcano.” It also reported large pyroclastic flows from Tuitt’s Ghaut, onto Farrell’s plain and into Tyers Ghaut, with many runout distances reaching 2 km from the lava dome.
“At around 6:40 am on 10 December there was a notably large seismic signal recorded associated with a relatively large pyroclastic flow down Tyers Ghaut. This flow had a runout distance of 3.5 km, stopping just beyond the west end of Lee’s village.” MVO said.
Ash and Steam Plume, Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat. Gray deposits including pyroclastic flows and lahars are visible extending from the volcano toward the coastline. Credit NASA. Astronaut photograph ISS021-E-5555 was acquired on October 11, 2009.
Soufrière Hills became active in 1995 and has since continued to erupt rendering more than half of Montserrat island uninhabitable, burying the capital city, Plymouth, and prompting widespread evacuations. On June 25, 1997 the volcano erupted, killing 19 people and prompting about 60 percent of the population (about 8,000 refugees) to leave the island.
Related Links:
- Two Volcanoes Erupt in Japan
- FEWW Volcano Links
- Volcanoes
- FEWW Earthquake Links
- VolcanoWatch Weekly [10 Dec 2009]
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