Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Volcano Status: Historical
Last Known Eruption: 1994
Summit Elevation: 3432 m 11,260 feet
Latitude: 9.979°N 9°58’45″N
Longitude: 83.852°W 83°51’9″W
Costa Rica’s highest volcano, Irazú has a broad summit, vegetated flanks, and a history of frequent eruptions going back to 1723. Its last eruption, 1963-65, sent tephra and secondary mudflows into cultivated areas, caused at least 20 deaths, and destroyed 400 houses and some factories.
Irazú Crater
Irazú, Costa Rica’s highest volcano and one of its most active, rises to 3,432 meters immediately east of the capital city of San Jose. The massive volcano is vegetated to within a few hundred meters of its broad summit crater complex. At least 10 satellitic cones are located on the southern flank of Irazú. No lava flows have been identified from Irazú since the eruption of the massive Cervantes lava flows from south-flank vents about 14,000 years ago, and all known Holocene eruptions have been explosive. The focus of eruptions at the summit crater complex has migrated to the west towards the historically active crater, which contains a small lake. The first well-documented historical eruption occurred in 1723, and frequent explosive eruptions have occurred since. Ashfall from its last major eruption during 1963-65 caused significant disruption to San Jose and surrounding areas.
In a Strombolian-type eruption observed during the 1965 activity of Irazú Volcano in Costa Rica, huge clots of molten lava burst from the summit crater to form luminous arcs through the sky. Collecting on the flanks of the cone, lava clots combined to stream down the slopes in fiery rivulets.
Volcan Irazu Map
Irazu Cone
Originally posted 2010-07-06 10:48:15.
