Black lava fills the crater floor of Popocatépetl on 9 December 1997 after rapid lava extrusion on December 5-6 had almost covered the entire crater floor. Circular flow ridges that formed during lava extrusion from the central vent are visible. TV transmission towers at Cerro Tlamacas on the northern flank are seen in the background to the upper right, and at the top of the photo are the light-colored grasslands of Llano Grande at Paso de Cortés, the saddle between Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes.

Photo by Hugo Delgado-Granados, 1997 (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México).

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

Keywords: crater | lava | stratigraphy | eruption | effusive

Popocatépetl