INSIVUMEH reported that explosions from Santa María's Santiaguito lava dome complex on 20 and 23 April occasionally produced ash plumes that rose to altitudes of 5.3 km (17,400 ft) a.s.l. The plumes drifted SW and ashfall was reported from areas up to 9 km to the SW. On 23 April, lava flows on the SW and NE flanks of Caliente dome produced small landslides composed of blocks.

Based on satellite imagery, the Washington VAAC reported that diffuse ash plumes on 18, 23, and 24 April, and gas plumes possibly containing ash on 20 April, drifted SW and W.

Geological Summary. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is part of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rise above the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The sharp-topped, conical profile is cut on the SW flank by a 1.5-km-wide crater. The oval-shaped crater extends from just below the summit to the lower flank, and was formed during a catastrophic eruption in 1902. The renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 that devastated much of SW Guatemala followed a long repose period after construction of the large basaltic-andesite stratovolcano. The massive dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four vents, with activity progressing E towards the most recent, Caliente. Dome growth has been accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions, with periodic lava extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.

Sources: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)