INSIVUMEH reported that on 29 May white gas plumes rose 200 m above Santa María's Santiaguito lava-dome complex and drifted W. Avalanches occurred on the NE and S flanks of the dome. An explosion on 30 May generated an ash plume that rose 500 m; ashfall was reported in Calahuaché village. On 1 June a weak lahar descended the Nima I drainage on the SE flank, and on 2 June dense white plumes rose from the dome. At 1855 on 4 June a lahar again descended the Nima I drainage and was about 40 m wide and 2.5 m thick.

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.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)