Activity during 5-11 April 1982. Boron concentrations, at 66 mg/L, were also the highest recorded values since January 1983. People living near the volcano reported felt earthquakes several months before the eruption. Lidar stations in the U.S., Japan, and Europe recorded enhanced backscattering in the stratosphare at times that correlated well with satellite observations of the cloud's movement. Hazards. Strong H2S emissions but no new explosions. No new explosions; dense stratospheric cloud over N hemisphere. Officials reported that as many as 100 persons may have been killed by the eruption and associated seismic activity. Information Contacts: King Freeland, Distrito Reynosa 157, Fracc. The pumice, a porphyritic trachyandesite, has a whole-rock silica content of about 57.5%; silica content of the glass is about 61%. Figure 6 illustrates the central crater as it looked in May 2004 from the SE side of the volcano looking towards the WSW. Taran noted that during the period of his study the lake was smallest in November 1998 (at the end of the rainy season), and it was very shallow, ~1.3 m deep. The March and April explosions destroyed most of the former central lava dome and formed a new crater ~ 1 km in diameter and slightly elongate NW-SE. Tilling R I, Rubin M, Sigurdsson H, Carey S, Duffield W A, Rose W I, 1984. Some small accumulations of water remain associated with these deposits, but there have been no recent observations of large lakes such as the one that produced a fatal flood 26 May. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. This may offer potential for future monitoring. of Rhode Island. El Chichón Volcano is located in the State of Chiapas (17.36° N, 93.23° W), a region of southeastern Mexico predominantly inhabited by the indigenous Zoque Maya-related ethnic group. The authors inferred that future El Chichón volcanism might take the form of intracrater dome growth. High H2S and NO in plume; slow diffusion of stratospheric cloud. The flood also destroyed a bridge several kilometers from the pyroclastic dam. ; W. Zoller, Univ. El Chichón was recognized as an active volcano in the early 20th century by Müllerried (1932, 1933), who visited the area following a period of seismic unrest at After a brilliant sunset on 14 June, a dense layer at 20.2-23.1 km was accompanied by material at 26.5 km. Farther away, only 28 March and 4 April tephra had been deposited. On 24 April 2000, water in El Chichón's crater lake had a temperature of 47°C. Armienta, UNAM; Marco A. Cuesta Escobar, Raul García Santiago, Edipson Pastrana Vázquez, and Silvia Ramos Hernández, Coordinación de Investigación, Consejo Estatal de Fomento a la Investigación y Difusión de la Cultura, Chiapas, México; J.L. ), 1983, El Volcán Chichonal: Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 100 p. (9 papers). of Wyoming; A. Meinel, M. Meinel, Univ. Data from laser radar (lidar) measurements at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii (about 19.5°N, 155.6°W) during the nights of 9-10 and 10-11 April indicated that El Chichón had injected large quantities of volcanic material into the stratosphere. Despite its proximity to these large capital cities the volcano is situated in a region with very difficult access. At Nicapa, on the NE flank, 7.5 cm of new ash was reported and a haze of SO2 was visible during the day. In 1987, Freeland and others went swimming in the crater lake. A good correlation appeared between gas flux and ground temperature. Such uniformity may indicate that the lake water is not significantly influenced by underlying magma and is highly affected by seasonal variations in precipitation and ambient temperature. Geologists thought it was likely that pyroclastic flows had moved through the area. Answer. The high alkali content of the pumice, occurrence of anhydrite in tephra, and presence of halite in the stratospheric cloud reflect contamination by evaporites. No large explosions have occurred at El Chichón since 4 April. Information Contacts: S. de la Cruz-Reyna, UNAM. The largest dome, the former summit of the volcano, was constructed within a 1.6 x 2 km summit crater created about 220,000 years ago. 28045 Colima, Colima, México (URL: http://www.ucol.mx/ciiv/nick/personal_en.htm); Martin Jutzeler, Centre for Ore Deposit Research (CODES), University of Tasmania, Australia; Laura Rosales Lagarde, Earth and Environmental Science Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, USA; La Jornada (URL: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/). El Chichón volcano and its hydrothermal manifestations. Figure 8 shows the lake in 2005, the smallest volume at this crater lake yet observed. The 1982 eruptions of El Chichon volcano, Mexico: stratigraphy of pyroclastic deposits. Several other curviplanar slump fractures encompass apparent areas of several hundred square meters on the crater wall. Information Contacts: F. Medina, UNAM, México; J. Luhr, Univ. Some evidence from wave form and polarity suggested both tectonic and internal explosion sources for these events. Solfataras and hot springs were present in the crater and on the flanks. Fumarolic activity continued but there was no evidence of any recent ash ejection. Jr., Bagley, S., Finnegan, D.L., and Zoller, W.H., 1984, Crater lake and post-eruption hydrothermal activity, El Chichón Volcano, México: JVGR, v. 23, p. 163-191. Res., 136: 247-268. Information Contacts: W. Fuller, NASA; M. Hirono, Kyushu Univ., Japan; H. Lamb, Univ. Because of the danger of mudflows when the rainy season begins around the end of April, authorities established a prohibited zone extending outward 10 km from the summit. Data courtesy of Instituto de Geofisica, UNAM. Determinations from satellite and radiosonde data of initial cloud top altitudes (rows with temperature and tropopause data) and later downwind drift of ejecta (rows with drift data) from the four largest explosions of El Chichón, March-April 1982. of Arizona; M. Helfert, NOAA, Houston TX; W. Evans, ARPX, Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada. In Pichucalco (~ 20 km NE of the summit) incandescent tephra could be seen rising from the volcano and the ash cloud darkened the sky during the morning as though it were night. At Ixtacomitán, 18 km ENE of the summit, there was a heavy fall of tephra no larger than 4 cm in diameter and the army was sent to evacuate 3,000 residents. The active crater, ~ 600 m in diameter in early May, was located within the pre-existing shallow summit crater that had dimensions of ~ 1,900 X 900 m. A 12-km prohibited zone around the summit remained in effect in early May. The salinity was greater when the lake had higher volume. The (pre-1982) 850-m-high andesitic stratovolcano El Chichón, active during Pleistocene and Holocene time, is located in rugged, densely forested terrain in northcentral Chiapas, México. Tephra samples were collected from about 100 sites around El Chichón in mid-April. Introduction In 1982 El Chichón volcano had a violent plinian eruption that devastated an area of approximately 153 km2 surrounding the volcano (Sigurdsson et al., 1984). A few fumaroles on the NE side of the crater are characterized by vigorous geyser activity, sending a constant flux of boiling water to 2-3 m height. The crater lake has variable shape and size, depending on the flow rate of a boiling spring in the crater that feeds the lake. No significant N-S component had developed above 10 km since the El Chichón eruption. The periods of high discharge at the springs correspond to periods when the lake grows. The scientists authoring this report, which included those from the Instituto de Geofísica of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), noted that low-frequency rumbling (presumably tremor) can clearly be felt inside the active crater. Geotherm. The eruption began 28 March at 2332 and NOAA geostationary weather satellite imagery showed that the eruption column was about 100 km in diameter 40 minutes later. Taran Y A, Fischer T P, Pokrovsky B, Sano Y, Aurora-Armienta M, Macias J L, 1998. The eruptions of March and April in 1982 affected at least 51 communities located in the surroundings of the volcano and caused the death of about 2000 people. Tilling, R., 1974, Rockfall activity in pit craters, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii: Proceedings of the Symposium on "Andean and Antarctic Volcanology Problems", IAVCEI, Santiago, Chile, September 1974, p. 518-528. Blackbody temperatures of the tops of dense eruption columns are determined from GOES East geostationary weather satellite digital data, and are compared to temperature/altitude profiles from radiosondes launched from Veracruz, México (19.15°N, 96.12°W) at 0600 and 1800 daily. Two other large craters are located on the SW and SE flanks; a lava dome fills the SW crater, and an older dome is located on the NW flank. Stable with tremor; hot spring; significant crater-lake-volume variations. Many roofs had been destroyed. After several weeks of local seismicity, explosions in late March and early April ejected a series of tephra columns, two of which penetrated well into the stratosphere. No new eruptions; crater lake conditions unchanged. Holocene eruptive activity of El Chichon volcano, Chiapas, Mexico. Tilling, R., Koyanagi, R., and Holcomb, R., 1975, Rockfall seismicity-correlation with field observations, Makaopuhi Crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii: Journal of Research, U.S. Geological Survey, v. 3, p. 345-361. Hazard map of El Chichon volcano, Chiapas, Mexico: constraints posed by eruptive history and computer simulations. The crater lake, which had recovered to November 1982 levels by November 1990, was turquoise-blue and had at least two large zones of intense surface effervescence as described by Casadevall and others (1984). The two crater lakes observed in September had combined into a single bright yellow-green lake that covered more than 80% of the crater floor. Crater lake. These springs alternate between periods of high- and low-water discharge feeding the lake. Sigurdsson, H., Carey, S.N., and Fisher, R.V., 1987, The 1982 eruptions of El Chichón Volcano, México (3): Physical Properties of Pyroclastic Flows: BV, v. 49, p. 467-488. James Luhr calculated that [~0.30] km3 of tephra (converted to a density of 2.6 g/cm3) had fallen within the 0.1 cm isopach (figure 2). 4 April stratospheric cloud circles the globe; minor explosive and seismic activity continues. A four-station seismic monitoring network operated by the UNAM recorded 6-8 small earthquakes per day in early May, including some B-type events. It crossed nobody’s mind that it might be waking up. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. The acidity and temperature of the lake water were similar to 1992 and 1993. (eds. They had no reason to rush because El Chichón, the volcano in the region, had been dormant for 6 centuries. Geologists reported that earthquakes as strong as magnitude 1.5 were recorded about every 3 minutes 6 April. Also, intracrater avalanches still occur, particularly after heavy rainfall. On 13 January, two apparent phreatic explosions similar to one reported last year were heard and felt on the crater rim. J. Volcanol. Photos of crater lake and volcanic morphology. Since the 15 February visit, temperatures of the crater lake (36-37°C) and fumaroles (96-98°C) had declined slightly, and the crater lake level was somewhat lower after several weeks of very little rainfall. Our expert volcanologists and photographers offer unique travel experiences: Colors of Iceland: Fire, Earth, Ice and Water, Photos from Mt Bromo in eruption during 2010-11. Lidar operated by NASA at Hampton, Virginia (37.1°N, 76.3°W), began to detect layers at higher altitudes in early June. Search this site. No large explosions have occurred at El Chichón since 4 April and weak ash emission was last observed 11 May. Temperatures and chlorine concentrations of thermal water springs at El Chichón as measured in April 1998. of Alaska; K. Coulson, T. DeFoor, MLO, HI; C. Wood, NASA, Houston; Notimex Radio, México; New York Times; UPI. Fumarole and crater lake temperatures decline. In hand specimen, the tephra appeared to be a crystal-rich andesite or dacite containing hornblende and considerable feldspar. Two portable seismometers were set up on the moat area and run for 80 hours. H2S made up more than 95% of the sulfur gases in the plume. The main body of the layer appeared to pass NW of Tucson during the evening of 7 May. Little new vegetation could be seen on the volcano and 1ahar deposits were evident in stream valleys. Fumarolic activity; lake level drops compared to 1993. The pumice flow deposit appeared to have been emplaced as two separate events in rapid succession. of East Anglia; J. Nania, Deaconess Hospital, Spokane, WA; Numero Uno newspaper, Tuxtla Gutierrez. Geology. 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