Pacaya, Guatemala

By ExploreNow Editor, on May 19th, 2012

Volcano Type:     Complex volcano
Volcano Status:   Historical
Last Known Eruption:    2010 (continuing)
Summit Elevation:    2552 m    8,373 feet
Latitude:    14.381°N    14°22’51″N
Longitude:    90.601°W    90°36’4″W

Eruptions from Pacaya, one of Guatemala’s most active volcanoes, are frequently visible from Guatemala City, the nation’s capital. Pacaya is a complex basaltic volcano constructed just outside the southern topographic rim of the 14 x 16 km Pleistocene Amatitlán caldera. A cluster of dacitic lava domes occupies the southern caldera floor. The post-caldera Pacaya massif includes the Cerro Grande lava dome and a younger volcano to the SW. Collapse of Pacaya volcano about 1100 years ago produced a debris-avalanche deposit that extends 25 km onto the Pacific coastal plain and left an arcuate somma rim inside which the modern Pacaya volcano (MacKenney cone) grew. A subsidiary crater, Cerro Chino, was constructed on the NW somma rim and was last active in the 19th century. During the past several decades, activity at Pacaya has consisted of frequent strombolian eruptions with intermittent lava flow extrusion that has partially filled in the caldera moat and armored the flanks of MacKenney cone, punctuated by occasional larger explosive eruptions that partially destroy the summit of the cone.

Pacaya's violent eruption

Pacaya is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It lies approximately 25 km south of Guatemala City. Activity at the volcano consists of strombolian eruptions, ash eruptions, and lava flows.

Pacaya Volcano steaming

A caldera forming eruption at Pacaya occurred 23,000 years ago. The volcanic complex contains three old summits: Cerro Chino (2260 m), Cerro Chiquito (2460 m) and Cerro Grande (2560 m). Two lavas (basaltic andesite and dacite), coexist at Cerro Chiquito dome. Between 1961 and 2000 Strombolian activity persisted at Pacaya volcano, with two to three paroxysmal eruptions each year.