INSIVUMEH reported that during 11-12 October white plumes from Santa María's Caliente dome rose 3.9 km and drifted S and SE. According to the Washington VAAC, INSIVUMEH reported a lava-dome collapse on 14 October. An ash plume observed in satellite imagery drifted WSW and W, and then dissipated. INSIVUMEH noted that during 15-16 October white plumes rose 400 m and drifted SW and W. An explosion generated a white plume that rose 600 m, and white plumes rose 50 m above the fronts of active lava flows.

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