October explosion deaths rise to 26; new crater described
The 13 October blast of steam and mud roared continuously (like a geyser) for 10-20 minutes, decreasing in intensity following the initial explosion (reported by a survivor to be around 20 seconds long). No seismic signals were recorded before or during the event by seismometers 4 and 30 km away. A portable seismometer, operated for a few days following the blast, also recorded no signals.
The 30-m-diameter, 15-m-deep crater produced by the blast was partially filled by a continuously boiling muddy lake during a 27 October visit. A sulfurous "rotten egg" smell was noted. Prior to the blast, the site was an area of steaming ground, with two small hot springs (1-2 m across) and 1 mudpot (1 m across) much smaller than the present crater.
The blast was laterally oblique to the N and its effects abruptly ended at a maximum of 130 m. Damage included downed trees and limbs, collapsed walls of buildings, and missing roofs. The massive, non-sorted deposits were clay-rich and composed of light-colored highly altered rock fragments. Deposits were thickest to the N where they ranged from 1 m on the crater rim to 30 cm at 20 m from the rim. The death toll increased to 26 after 13 people died in hospitals.
Information Contacts: C. Dan Miller, USGS.
The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Apaneca Range.
Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.
Phreatic blast at hot springs; 14 people dead
At approximately 0130 on 13 October a small phreatic blast occurred in the village of El Barro, in the SW portion of the Ahuachapán Geothermal Field. Agua Shuca (an area 2-3 m in diameter of fumaroles, mud pots, and altered ground at 13.90°N, 89.82°W) erupted violently, producing a "blast of wind, stones, and boiling water" that destroyed several small dwellings and affected an area with a 100-m radius. Fourteen people were reported killed and 21 injured [but see 15:11]. The explosion was reportedly directed and lasted about 20 seconds according to survivors. By 15 October, a quiet pond (below the boiling point), 10 m in diameter [but see 15:11], had formed in the explosion crater and the surrounding area was covered with mud.
The Ahuachapán geothermal field has been an extensively developed source of energy for more than 15 years. It is located in a highly fractured zone at the N base of Laguna Verde, an eroded stratovolcano with Pleistocene and possibly Holocene activity (figure 1). Agua Shuca is situated on a fault, 2 km S of the Ahuachapán power plant (figure 2), and is outside of the geothermal field drawdown area. A well drilled 100 m N of Agua Shuca in 1971 (AH-9), was not developed due to the low permeability of the rocks at the site. A large landslide in 1981, 1/2 km NE of Agua Shuca and along the same fault, occurred shortly after a test of the reservoir at the maximum rate of power extraction, stopped because of a dramatic pressure decline.
Figure 1. Portion of a geologic/structural map of Ahuachapán Geothermal Field and vicinity, prepared by the Comisión Executiva Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa. Courtesy of Dina López. |
Information Contacts: Rodolfo Caceres, División Geotermía, Comisión Executiva Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa, Santa Tecla, La Libertad, El Salvador; Marshall Reed, US Dept of Energy; Marcelo Lippmann, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Univ of California; Grant Heiken, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dina López, Louisiana State Univ.
October explosion deaths rise to 26; new crater described
The 13 October blast of steam and mud roared continuously (like a geyser) for 10-20 minutes, decreasing in intensity following the initial explosion (reported by a survivor to be around 20 seconds long). No seismic signals were recorded before or during the event by seismometers 4 and 30 km away. A portable seismometer, operated for a few days following the blast, also recorded no signals.
The 30-m-diameter, 15-m-deep crater produced by the blast was partially filled by a continuously boiling muddy lake during a 27 October visit. A sulfurous "rotten egg" smell was noted. Prior to the blast, the site was an area of steaming ground, with two small hot springs (1-2 m across) and 1 mudpot (1 m across) much smaller than the present crater.
The blast was laterally oblique to the N and its effects abruptly ended at a maximum of 130 m. Damage included downed trees and limbs, collapsed walls of buildings, and missing roofs. The massive, non-sorted deposits were clay-rich and composed of light-colored highly altered rock fragments. Deposits were thickest to the N where they ranged from 1 m on the crater rim to 30 cm at 20 m from the rim. The death toll increased to 26 after 13 people died in hospitals.
Information Contacts: C. Dan Miller, USGS.
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 |
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Cuyanausul | Ahuachapán | ||||
Cones |
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Feature Name | Feature Type | Elevation | Latitude | Longitude |
Aguila, Cerro el | Stratovolcano | 2028 m | 13° 53' 34" N | 89° 42' 2" W |
Apaneca, Cerro de
Chichicastepec |
Stratovolcano | 1827 m | 13° 50' 19" N | 89° 48' 16" W |
Cachio, Cerro | Stratovolcano | 1827 m | 13° 54' 4" N | 89° 44' 32" W |
Cerrito, El | Pyroclastic cone | 1615 m | 13° 51' 20" N | 89° 47' 48" W |
Cumbre del Triunfo, Cerro | Pyroclastic cone | 1716 m | 13° 52' 15" N | 89° 48' 45" W |
Cuyanausul, Cerro | Stratovolcano | 1843 m | 13° 54' 0" N | 89° 44' 56" W |
Cuyotepe
Savana, Volcán de la |
Cone | 1517 m | 13° 50' 54" N | 89° 46' 26" W |
Laguna Ranas, Cerro de la | Stratovolcano | 1956 m | 13° 54' 2" N | 89° 43' 36" W |
Laguna Verde, Cerro | Stratovolcano | 1819 m | 13° 53' 25" N | 89° 46' 54" W |
Naranjos, Cerro los
Pilón, El |
Stratovolcano | 1973 m | 13° 52' 22" N | 89° 41' 15" W |
Ninfas, Cerro las | Stratovolcano | 1745 m | 13° 52' 50" N | 89° 47' 46" W |
Ojo de Agua de la Virgen, Cerro el
Cerro Peña Blanca Cerro Piedra Sellada |
Stratovolcano | 1945 m | 13° 54' 11" N | 89° 41' 28" W |
Ranas, Cerro las | Stratovolcano | 1957 m | 13° 54' 2" N | 89° 43' 2" W |
Craters |
||||
Feature Name | Feature Type | Elevation | Latitude | Longitude |
Concepción de Ataco | Pleistocene caldera | 1200 m | 13° 53' 0" N | 89° 50' 24" W |
Hoyo de Cuajuste | Crater | 1492 m | 13° 53' 10" N | 89° 47' 33" W |
Ninfas, Laguna las
Lagunita, La |
Crater | 1643 m | 13° 52' 38" N | 89° 47' 58" W |
Domes |
||||
Feature Name | Feature Type | Elevation | Latitude | Longitude |
Himalaya, Cerro | Dome | |||
San Lázaro, Cerro | Dome | |||
Thermal |
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Feature Name | Feature Type | Elevation | Latitude | Longitude |
Agua Shuca | Thermal | |||
Amaya, Ausoles de | Thermal | |||
Chipilapa | Thermal | |||
Cuyanausul, Ausoles de | Thermal | |||
Labor, Ausoles de la | Thermal | |||
Playón de Ahuachapán
Akhuachapán |
Thermal | |||
San Carlos | Thermal | |||
San José | Thermal | |||
Sauce, El | Thermal | |||
Termópilas, Las | Thermal |
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There is data available for 0 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.
[ 1990 Oct 13 ] Discredited Eruption
There is no Deformation History data available for Apaneca Range.
There is no Emissions History data available for Apaneca Range.
Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.
There are no samples for Apaneca Range in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.
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. |
MIROVA | Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity. |
MODVOLC Thermal Alerts | Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales. |
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. |
Volcanic Hazard Maps | The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter. |
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 Apaneca Range. 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 Apaneca Range. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player. |
DECADE Data | The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere. |
Large Eruptions of Apaneca Range | 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). |