Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Zapatera.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Zapatera.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Zapatera.

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

Zapetón | Zapetero

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Armado, Isla el

Tuff ring

11° 47' 0" N

85° 49' 0" W

Charco Muerto

Tuff ring

Ensenada el Viejo

Tuff ring

11° 43' 0" N

85° 51' 0" W

Ensenada los Chiqueros

Lava cone

11° 46' 0" N

85° 52' 0" W

Ensenadas de Punta Gorda

Cone

11° 48' 0" N

85° 33' 0" W

Jesús Grande, Isla de

Lava cone

11° 47' 0" N

85° 51' 0" W

Menco, Cerro el

Cone

11° 42' 0" N

85° 52' 0" W

Muerto, Isla el

Cone

11° 47' 0" N

85° 52' 0" W

Pilón, Cerro el

Cone

11° 45' 0" N

85° 52' 0" W

San Fernando

Cone

Terror, El

Cone

Tinajas, Isla

Tuff ring

Craters

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Llano, El

Caldera

11° 45' 0" N

85° 50' 0" W

Pichicha, Laguna

Crater

Zapatera, Laguna de

Maar

11° 46' 0" N

85° 51' 0" W

Domes

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Banderas, Cerro las

Dome

11° 46' 0" N

85° 48' 0" W

Guinea, La

Dome

Llano, Cerro el

Dome

11° 45' 0" N

85° 51' 0" W

San Francisco

Dome

Santa Julia, Sierra

Dome

11° 44' 0" N

85° 49' 0" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

344111

Unknown - Evidence Credible

629 m / 2,064 ft

11.73°N
85.82°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Shield

Volcano Types
Shield
Caldera
Tuff ring(s)
Pyroclastic cone(s)
Lava dome(s)

Rock Types

Major
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Minor
Dacite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

136
2,104
214,864
2,537,550

Geological Summary

Zapatera is a small low shield volcano that forms a 7 x 10 km wide island on the western side of Lake Nicaragua just offshore from Mombacho volcano. The island contains some of the most significant archaeological sites in Nicaragua. The small, roughly circular 2-km-wide El Llano caldera is located near the center of the island, which is cut by a series of NE-trending faults that continue into Lake Nicaragua. The conical 305-m-high Cerro El Llano lava dome occupies the center of the caldera, and other lava domes are found on the southern and NE flanks. Numerous low-rimmed tuff rings and maars, of which Laguna de Zapatera on the NW flank is the best-preserved, are found on the northern and western sides of the densely forested 629-m-high island and across a narrow strait on the adjacent mainland.

References

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

Carr M J, 1984. Symmetrical and segmented variation of physical and geochemical characterisitics of the Central American volcanic front. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 20: 231-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-0273(84)90041-6

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior.

Incer J, 1987. (pers. comm.).

McBirney A R, Williams H, 1965. Volcanic history of Nicaragua. Univ Calif Pub Geol Sci, 55: 1-65.

van Wyk de Vries B, 1993. Tectonics and magma evolution of Nicaraguan volcanic systems. Unpublished PhD thesis, Open Univ, Milton Keynes, 328 p.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Zapatera. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Zapatera 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 Zapatera.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Zapatera.

Photo Gallery

A cluster of maars forms the NW tip of Zapatera Island in this aerial view with north to the bottom. Laguna de Zapatera lies at the upper left, and Punta Rua, the peninsula at the upper right, forms part of the western rim of a maar enclosing the Ensenada de Chiqueros. Isla El Muerto lies just offshore at the lower right.

Photo by Franco Penalba, 1994 (courtesy of Jaime Incer).

The low-rimmed Zapatera maar in the foreground is part of a maar complex at the NW tip of Zapatera Island on the western side of Lake Nicaragua. Remnants of other maars form small islets offshore. The surface of Lake Nicaragua, the country's largest body of water, lies only 30 m above sea level. The northern shore of the lake in the distance is about 35 km from Isla Zapatera. The long axis of the 70 x 160 km wide lake parallels the NW-SE trend of the Nicaraguan central depression.

Photo by Jaime Incer, 1982.

Zapatera Island, seen here from the NW on the lower flanks of Mombacho volcano, is a small low shield volcano that forms a 7 x 10 km wide island in Lake Nicaragua. The small roughly circular 2-km-wide El Llano caldera is located near the center of the island. Numerous low-rimmed tuff rings and maars are found on the northern and western sides of the densely forested 629-m-high island and across a narrow strait on the adjacent mainland. Concepción is the conical volcano in the distance beyond Zapatera.

Photo by Jaime Incer, 1995.

These small forested islands are hummocks of a large debris avalanche from Mombacho volcano that swept into Lake Nicaragua. The horizon is formed by Isla Zapatera volcano, SE of Mombacho.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1998 (Smithsonian Institution).

A small boat plies the waters of Ensenada de Aseses, with Zapatera Island forming the horizon to the SE. In the middle distance are the small island hummocks of Las Isletas, formed by a debris avalanche from Mombacho volcano, out of view to the right. The conical peak on the distant left horizon is Concepción volcano; the low, rounded peak to its left is Cerro las Banderas, a pyroclastic cone on the NE tip of Zapatera Island.

Photo by Paul Kimberly, 1998 (Smithsonian Institution).

Zapatera Island is seen here from the north across Lake Nicaragua. The 629-m-high summit of the island at the left marks the rim of a fault-bound caldera. The post-caldera cone Cerro el Llano is a faintly visible conical peak whose summit lies just below the horizon near the center of the photo.

Photo by Benjamin Van Wyk de Vries (Open University).

Two major scarps cutting Mombacho volcano (left-center) were the sources of major debris avalanches. The arcuate peninsula and island chain extending into Lake Nicaragua (known as Las Isletas or Isletas de Granada) was produced by collapse of Mombacho to the NE. The island at the right is Zapatera, a small shield volcano and maar complex. The lake at the far left fills late-Pleistocene Apoyo caldera, and the roughly N-S-trending Granada cinder cone alignment lies NNW of Mombacho and east of Lake Apoyo in this NASA Space Shuttle image (with north to the upper left).

NASA Space Shuttle image STS081-742-25, 1997 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).

The roughly 7 x 10 km Zapatera island contains more than 30 vents across 150 km², shown in this March 2019 Planet Labs satellite image monthly mosaic (N is at the top; this image is approximately 12 km across). The island is heavily faulted due to the Ochomogo fault zone, and a 150-m-high scarp is along the center.

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 Zapatera 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.

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 Zapatera. 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 Zapatera. 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 Zapatera

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).