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Quilotoa

Caldera · Ecuador · 3914m

Quilotoa is a truncated, forested dacitic cone containing a steep-walled, 3-km-wide caldera filled by a 250-m-deep lake. Lava domes form the caldera's perimeter and occupy its floor. Its most recent large eruption about 800 years ago produced voluminous pyroclastic flows, lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and one of the largest airfall-tephra deposits of the northern Andes. Reports of historical eruptions from the caldera lake are somewhat ambiguous. Fumaroles are present on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank.
Quilotoa is a truncated, forested dacitic cone containing a steep-walled, 3-km-wide caldera filled by a 250-m-deep lake. Lava domes form the caldera's perimeter and occupy its floor. Its most recent large eruption about 800 years ago produced voluminous pyroclastic flows, lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and one of the largest airfall-tephra deposits of the northern Andes. Reports of historical eruptions from the caldera lake are somewhat ambiguous. Fumaroles are present on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank. · Photo: Photo by Minard Hall, 1973 (Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Caldera
Country
Ecuador
Region
South America Volcanic Regions / Northern Andean Volcanic Arc
Elevation
3914m
Coordinates
-0.859, -78.904
Last eruption
1280
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Caldera
Major rock type
Dacite
Geological summary

Quilotoa is a truncated, dacitic cone in the Western Cordillera of Ecuador, 35 km WNW of the city of Latacunga, that contains a 3-km-wide caldera with steep-sided walls that rise 400 m above the surface of 240-m-deep caldera lake. Multiple lava domes are present along the caldera's perimeter. This small volcano has produced eight major explosive eruptions during the past 200,000 years. Its most recent major eruption about 800 radiocarbon years ago produced voluminous pyroclastic flows, lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and one of the largest airfall-tephra deposits of the northern Andes. Formation of the caldera was followed by extrusion of a small lava dome. Reports of observed eruptions from the caldera lake are somewhat ambiguous. Fumaroles are present on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the E flank.

From Wikipedia

Quilotoa is a water-filled crater lake and the most western volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3-kilometre-wide (2 mi) caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacite volcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ash throughout the northern Andes. This last eruption followed a dormancy period of 14,000 years and is known as the 1280 Plinian eruption. The fourth eruptive phase was phreatomagmatic, indicating that a crater lake was already present at that time. The caldera has since accumulated a 250-metre-deep (820 ft) crater lake, which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor, and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
1280~1332 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 61694~1745 · 2 eruptions · max VEI 21745~1797 · 2 eruptions · max VEI 212801383153916421745

Detailed timeline

  1. 1797VEI ?Geological estimate
    1797-02-04 – Ongoing
  2. 1759VEI 2Geological estimate
    1759 – Ongoing
  3. 1740VEI 2Geological estimate
    1740-12 – Ongoing
  4. 1725VEI 2Geological estimate
    1725 – Ongoing
  5. 1280VEI 6Geological estimate
    1280 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.