Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Piedra Grande.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Piedra Grande.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Piedra Grande.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Teanzul

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Sitios, Los

Stratovolcano

1548 m

14° 13' 0" N

90° 26' 0" W

Sordo, El

Stratovolcano

1576 m

14° 13' 0" N

90° 23' 0" W

Thermal

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Infiernitos, Fumarole

Fumarole

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

342804

Pleistocene

1,640 m / 5,381 ft

14.25°N
90.4°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Composite

Volcano Types
Stratovolcano(es)
Pyroclastic cone(s)

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Geological Summary

A cluster of faulted, heavily eroded andesitic stratovolcanoes is located in the Tecuamburro graben, between the Jalpatagua fault and Tecuamburro volcano. The vent area of Piedra Grande, on the north, lies with 4-km-wide, nested depressions open to the east. Much of the upper part of the andesitic volcano is extensively hydrothermally altered, and a fumarole is present. To the south is El Sordo, a basaltic-andesite stratovolcano with a smaller depression breached to the ESE. One lava flow has a Potassium-Argon age of 1.180 ± 0.080 million years (Ma). To the south the Piedra Grande complex interfingers with El Sordo, an eroded and faulted basaltic cone. To the SW is Los Sitios, a sequence of interfingering andesitic lava flows from two eroded and faulted scoria and cinder cones. One flow has a Potassium-Argon age of 0.800 ± 0.061 Ma.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Duffield W A, Heiken G H, Wohletz K H, Maassen L W, Dengo G, Pinzon O, 1991. Geologic map of Tecuamburro volcano and surrounding area, Guatemala. U S Geol Surv Map, I-2197, 1:50,000 geol map.

Heiken G, Duffield W, 1990. An evaluation of the geothermal potential of the Tecuamburro volcano area of Guatemala. Central Amer Energy Resour Project, LA-11906-MS, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545, 37 p.

Reynolds J H, 1987. Timing and sources of Neogene and Quaternary volcanism in south-central Guatemala. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 33: 9-22.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Piedra Grande. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Piedra Grande page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Piedra Grande.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Piedra Grande.

Photo Gallery

The top-center portion of this Landsat image consists of topographically indistinct Piedra Grande, a cluster of faulted, heavily eroded andesitic stratovolcanoes. The Piedra Grande complex lies between the NW-trending Jalpatagua Fault, which cuts diagonally through the city of Barbarena (the small white area at the upper right), and Tecuamburro volcano (lower right). The vent area of Piedra Grande lies within 4-km-wide, nested depressions open to the east, NE of the more prominent forested Puebla Nuevo Viñas volcano (left center).

NASA Landsat image, 2000 (courtesy of Loren Siebert, University of Akron).

Four large Pleistocene volcanic complexes are visible in this Landsat image of southern Guatemala, with the Pacific coastal plain at the bottom. Minor activity at Tecuamburro volcano continued into the Holocene at Laguna Ixpaco, the small circular white dot a little more than half-way between the Tecuamburro and Piedra Grande labels. The Río los Esclavos extends from the upper right, cutting between Tecuamburro and Ixhuatán volcanoes.

NASA Landsat image, 2000 (courtesy of Loren Siebert, University of Akron).

The Pleistocene Piedra Grande is the topographically indistinct area in the center of this December 2019 Planet Labs satellite image monthly mosaic (N is at the top; image is approximately 14 km across). The complex consists of heavily eroded, faulted cones, and has undergone extensive hydrothermal alteration.

Satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc., 2019 (https://www.planet.com/).

GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Piedra Grande in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Piedra Grande. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Piedra Grande. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Piedra Grande

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).