Guazapa (El Salvador)

Status Unknown Eruption Unknown 1438m
Stratovolcano (Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km))

Guazapa is a massive, eroded Pleistocene stratovolcano that rises 1000 m above the surrounding countryside NE of the capital city of San Salvador. The basaltic volcano has no trace of its original summit crater, and deep canyons cut its flanks. Several young Holocene pyroclastic cones and lava flows of similar composition are found at the base of the volcano (Williams and Meyer-Abich, 1955). The Macanze scoria cone at the SE base was considered to have probably been active only a few thousand years ago; however, Weber and Wiesemann (1978) did not map Holocene vents in this area.

Guazapa is a massive, eroded Pleistocene stratovolcano that rises 1000 m above the surrounding countryside NE of the capital city of San Salvador. The 1438-m-high basaltic volcano is seen here from the SW. It has no trace of its original summit crater, and deep canyons cut its flanks. Several relatively young pyroclastic cones and lava flows of similar basaltic composition are found at the base of the volcano, although their age is not known precisely.

Photo by Carlos Pullinger, 1996 (Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales, El Salvador).

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