Santa Ana (El Salvador)

Status Normal Eruption 2005 2381m
Stratovolcano (Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km))

Santa Ana

Santa Ana, El Salvador's highest volcano, is a massive, dominantly andesitic-to-trachyandesitic stratovolcano that rises immediately W of Coatepeque caldera. Collapse of Santa Ana (also known as Ilamatepec) during the late Pleistocene produced a voluminous debris avalanche that swept into the Pacific Ocean, forming the Acajutla Peninsula. Reconstruction of the volcano subsequently filled most of the collapse scarp. The broad summit is cut by several crescentic craters, and a series of parasitic vents and cones have formed along a 20-km-long fissure system that extends from near the town of Chalchuapa NNW of the volcano to the San Marcelino and Cerro la Olla cinder cones on the SE flank. Historical activity, largely consisting of small-to-moderate explosive eruptions from both summit and flank vents, has been documented since the 16th century. The San Marcelino cinder cone on the SE flank produced a lava flow in 1722 that traveled 13 km E.

Santa Ana, El Salvador's highest volcano, is a massive, 2381-m-high stratovolcano whose summit is truncated by a series of four nested craters, seen here from the SW. A series of parasitic vents and cones have formed along a 20-km-long fissure system that extends from the low NNE flank to the San Marcelino and Cerro Chino cinder cones on the SE flank. Historical eruptions, largely consisting of small-to-moderate explosions from both summit and flank vents, have been recorded since the 16th century.

Photo by Mike Carr, 1982 (Rutgers University).

Last updated 2019-11-17 21:00:03

View Santa Ana Via Satellite

Camera

Latest activity