Ciguatepe, Cerro el (Nicaragua)

Status Unknown Eruption Unknown 603m
Stratovolcano (Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km))

Cerro el Ciguatepe is one of several Quaternary volcanoes that lie in the Nicaraguan interior highlands, east of the Nicaraguan depression. The steep-sided stratovolcano was constructed east of the Río Pacora, NE of Lake Managua at the boundary of the flat-lying Tertiary ignimbrite deposits with the fault-blocks bordering the Nicaraguan depression. A small lava flow extends a short distance beyond the base of the cone through a breach in the SW wall of the well-preserved 1.5-km-wide crater. A blocky plug dome occupies the center of the crater. The relatively well-preserved Cerro el Ciguatepe cone is morphologically similar to the youthful cones of the Nejapa alignment (van Wyk de Vries 1999, pers. comm.) and may be of Holocene age.

The small circular volcano at the center of this NASA Landsat image east (right) of the Río Pacora (left of center) is Cerro el Ciguatepe. This volcano lies in the Nicaraguan interior highlands, east of yellow-colored Lake Managua (lower left). A prominent breach can be seen in the SW wall of the well-preserved 1.5-km-wide crater. A small lava flow extends a short distance beyond the base of the cone through the breach, and a blocky plug dome was emplaced in the center of the crater. The dark-colored lake at the upper right is Laguna Moyua.

NASA Landsat7 image (worldwind.arc.nasa.gov)

Last updated 2019-08-04 00:28:03