Ecuador · Caldera
Quilotoa
- Type
- Caldera
- Elevation
- 3914m
- Last eruption
- 1280
- Type
- Caldera
- Country
- Ecuador
- Region
- South America / 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.
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Eruption history
5 recordedGlossaryDetailed timeline
- 1797VEI ?Method not stated1797-02-04 – end unknown
- 1759VEI 2Method not stated1759 – end unknown
- 1740VEI 2Method not stated1740-12 – end unknown
- 1725VEI 2Method not stated1725 – end unknown
- 1280VEI 6Geological estimate1280 – end unknown
Nearby volcanoes
External links
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