INSIVUMEH reported that 4-12 explosions per hour were recorded at Fuego during 18-25 April, generating daily ash plumes that rose as high as 1 km above the crater rim and drifted as far as 65 km SW, S, SE, and E. Ashfall was recorded each day in areas downwind including Morelia (9 km SW), Panimaché I and II (8 km SW), La Rochela, Santa Sofía (12 km SW), San Andrés Osuna, Ceilan, Finca La Asunción, Ceylon, El Zapote (10 km S), Aldeas, El Rodeo and other nearby communities. Daily block avalanches descended multiple drainages including the Santa Teresa, Ceniza (SSW), Seca (W), Trinidad (S), Taniluyá (SW), Honda, Las Lajas (SE), and El Jute (ESE), and often reached vegetated areas. Daily shock waves rattled structures in communities around the volcano and rumbling was often heard. Explosions ejected incandescent material as high as 350 m above the summit on most days. During 22-23 April the avalanches remobilized ash deposits causing a plume that rose 100 m and drifted S and SE. On 23 April lahars in the Ceniza drainage carried branches, tree trunks, and blocks 30 cm to 1.5 m in diameter.

Geological Summary. Volcán Fuego, one of Central America's most active volcanoes, is also one of three large stratovolcanoes overlooking Guatemala's former capital, Antigua. The scarp of an older edifice, Meseta, lies between Fuego and Acatenango to the north. Construction of Meseta dates back to about 230,000 years and continued until the late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Collapse of Meseta may have produced the massive Escuintla debris-avalanche deposit, which extends about 50 km onto the Pacific coastal plain. Growth of the modern Fuego volcano followed, continuing the southward migration of volcanism that began at the mostly andesitic Acatenango. Eruptions at Fuego have become more mafic with time, and most historical activity has produced basaltic rocks. Frequent vigorous historical eruptions have been recorded since the onset of the Spanish era in 1524, and have produced major ashfalls, along with occasional pyroclastic flows and lava flows.

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