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Las Cumbres

Fernandina

Shield volcano · Ecuador · 1476m

Dust clouds rise from Fernandina caldera on July 4, 1968, about three weeks after a major explosive eruption that was followed by collapse of the caldera floor. Collapse occurred incrementally and asymmetrically, ranging up to about 350 m at the SE end of the caldera, which contains the caldera lake. Fernandina, the most active of Galápagos volcanoes, is a basaltic shield volcano with a deep 4 x 6.5 km summit caldera. Flat-topped benches mark the SE and NW ends of the elliptical caldera.
Dust clouds rise from Fernandina caldera on July 4, 1968, about three weeks after a major explosive eruption that was followed by collapse of the caldera floor. Collapse occurred incrementally and asymmetrically, ranging up to about 350 m at the SE end of the caldera, which contains the caldera lake. Fernandina, the most active of Galápagos volcanoes, is a basaltic shield volcano with a deep 4 x 6.5 km summit caldera. Flat-topped benches mark the SE and NW ends of the elliptical caldera. · Photo: Photo by Tom Simkin, 1968 (Smithsonian Institution). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Shield volcano
Country
Ecuador
Region
Eastern Pacific Volcanic Regions / Galapagos Hotspot Volcano Group
Elevation
1476m
Coordinates
-0.370, -91.550
Last eruption
2024
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Oceanic crust (< 15 km)
Landform
Shield
Major rock type
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Geological summary

Fernandina, the most active of Galápagos volcanoes and the one closest to the Galápagos mantle plume, is a basaltic shield volcano with a deep 5 x 6.5 km summit caldera. The volcano displays the classic "overturned soup bowl" profile of Galápagos shield volcanoes. Its caldera is elongated in a NW-SE direction and formed during several episodes of collapse. Circumferential fissures surround the caldera and were instrumental in growth of the volcano. Reporting has been poor in this uninhabited western end of the archipelago, and even a 1981 eruption was not witnessed at the time. In 1968 the caldera floor dropped 350 m following a major explosive eruption. Subsequent eruptions, mostly from vents located on or near the caldera boundary faults, have produced lava flows inside the caldera as well as those in 1995 that reached the coast from a SW-flank vent. Collapse of a nearly 1 km3 section of the east caldera wall during an eruption in 1988 produced a debris-avalanche deposit that covered much of the caldera floor and absorbed the caldera lake.

From Wikipedia

La Cumbre is a shield volcano on Fernandina Island in the Galápagos Islands. La Cumbre is also the youngest volcano in the Galápagos Islands.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
950~1057 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 01057~1165 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 01487~1594 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 01809~1917 · 7 eruptions · max VEI 31917~2024 · 23 eruptions · max VEI 49501165148717021917

Detailed timeline

  1. 2024VEI 1Observed
    2024-03-02 – 2024-05-08
    SE flank
  2. 2020VEI 0Observed
    2020-01-12 – 2020-01-13
  3. 2018VEI 1Observed
    2018-06-16 – 2018-06-21
    Radial fissure on NNE flank
  4. 2017VEI 2Observed
    2017-09-04 – 2017-09-08
    SSW caldera rim and La Cumbre crater
  5. 2009VEI 2Observed
    2009-04-10 – 2009-04-28
    SW flank (400 m)
  6. 2005VEI 2Observed
    2005-05-13 – 2005-05-29
    South caldera rim
  7. 1995VEI 2Observed
    1995-01-25 – 1995-04-08
    SW flank
  8. 1991VEI 2Observed
    1991-04-19 – 1991-04-24
    Base of ESE and NW caldera wall
  9. 1988VEI 2Observed
    1988-09-14 – 1988-09-16
    East caldera wall
  10. 1984VEI 1Observed
    1984-03-30 – Ongoing
    NW corner of caldera
  11. 1981VEI 0Observed
    1981-08-01 – Ongoing
    South caldera rim
  12. 1978VEI 2Observed
    1978-08-08 – 1978-08-26
    NW caldera bench
  13. 1977VEI 1Observed
    1977-03-23 – 1977-03-27
    SE caldera bench
  14. 1973VEI 2Observed
    1973-12-09 – 1973-12-16
    ESE caldera wall
  15. 1972VEI 0Observed
    1972-06-04 – Ongoing
    SE caldera bench
  16. 1968VEI 2Observed
    1968-05-21 – 1968-05-23
    ESE flank (600 m)
  17. 1968VEI 4Observed
    1968-06-11 – 1968-07-04
    West caldera wall
  18. 1961VEI 2Observed
    1961-03-21 – 1961-09-16
    SE flank
  19. 1958VEI 2Observed
    1958-09-16 – 1958-12-30
    SE, SW and west caldera rim
  20. 1937VEI 0Observed
    1937-03 – 1937-04
  21. 1927VEI 0Observed
    1927-12-13 – Ongoing
    South flank near Punta Mangle
  22. 1926VEI ?Observed
    1926 – Ongoing
  23. 1917VEI 0Observed
    1917-05-14 – Ongoing
    Cape Hammond (SW flank)
  24. 1888VEI 1Observed
    1888-04-10 – Ongoing
  25. 1846VEI 0Observed
    1846-11-06 – 1846-11-24
    East flank
  26. 1825VEI 3Observed
    1825-02-14 – 1825-10
    East summit and SE flank
  27. 1819VEI 2Observed
    1819-05-15 – 1819-05-18
  28. 1817VEI 2Geological estimate
    1817 – Ongoing
    Volcano Uncertain: Western Galápagos
  29. 1814VEI 2Observed
    1814-07 – 1814-08
  30. 1813VEI 2Observed
    1813-07-14 – Ongoing
    South flank
  31. 1550VEI 0Geological estimate
    1550 – Ongoing
  32. 1150VEI 0Geological estimate
    1150 – Ongoing
  33. 950 (±500 yrs)VEI 0Geological estimate
    950 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.