The 13 x 17 km Ilopango caldera is filled by one of El Salvador's largest lakes. The caldera, which has a scalloped 150-500 m high rim, lies immediately east of the capital city of San Salvador (upper left). The latest caldera collapse event occurred during the massive 536-550 CE eruption, which produced widespread pyroclastic flows and devastated early Mayan cities. Post-caldera eruptions formed a series of lava domes within the lake and near its shore.

Photo by Carlos Pullinger, 1996 (Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales, El Salvador).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Keywords: caldera

Ilopango