Sunday, July 19, 2009

El Chichon Volcano


"El Chichón, also known as El Chichonal, is an active volcano in northwestern Chiapas, Mexico. Its only recorded eruptive activity was on March 29, April 3 and April 4, 1982, when it produced a one km-wide caldera that then filled with an acidic crater lake. The eruption killed around 2,000 people who lived near the volcano. It had high-sulphur anhydrite-bearing magma, explosive eruptions, pyroclastic flows, and surges that were devastating.
Solar radiation transmittance measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory (Hawaii), the eruption of El Chichón caused a decrease of ~16%
In 2000, the lake's water temperature increased. Also, the lake acquired a blue-green color, due to massive amounts of dissolved minerals in the acidic water, and fine, light-colored ashy sediment continually stirred up by boiling areas.
El Chichon is part of a geologic zone known as the Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc. This volcanic region is thought to be the result of the subduction of the Tehuantepec Ridge, an undersea ridge which lies on the Cocos Plate off the Pacific coast of Mexico." (Information provided by wikipedia.org)

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