Popocatépetl, Mexico, April 25, 2012

Year: 2012 (April 25, 2012)

11″ x 8.5″

Media: Canon® Pro Platinum High Gloss Photo Paper

Printers: Canon® PIXMA

Color

Art: Photo

Artist: Luc Paquin

Popocatépetl

Geology

The stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 400 m × 600 m wide crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano.

International Space Station view of Popocatépetl sending plume of volcanic ash south January 23, 2001, Iztaccíhuatl at right Popocatépetl viewed from Puebla, Puebla, January 2004 eruption.

According to paleomagnetic studies, the volcano is about 730,000 years old. The elevation at the peak is 5,450 m. The volcano is cone shaped with a diameter of 25 km at its base. The crater is elliptical with an orientation northeast-southwest. The walls of the crater vary from 600 to 840 m in height. Popocatépetl is currently active after being dormant for about half of last century. In 1991 the volcano’s activity increased and since 1993 smoke can be seen constantly emanating from the crater.

Luc