Volcanoes, list/El Chichon

Characteristics

The El Chichon volcano is located in Mexico near a state named Chiapas. This volcano is explosive, so it erupted volcanic ash and pyroclastic material. This volcano was naturally made within a 1.6 x 2km crater which was made approximately 220,000 years ago. El Chichon was made on a convergent boundary.

1982 Eruption

This volcano was not really well known until 1982, March 28 at 11:32 to be exact. El Chichon only started erupting at March 28 and continued until April 4th. The eruption not only killed people but it also killed animals as well as villages. The 1982 volcanic eruption left behind a large body of water which is 1 Kilometer long. This body of water contained high sulfur, and anhydrite.

Effects

A lot of people thought that this volcano was dormant, even extinct. This eruption was unexpected and left many people unaware resulting in about 2000 deaths. This also caused more than 30,000 people become homeless and caused damage to the village The volcanic ash caused a change in the global temperature and that affected the people also as well as animals. There were villages that were destroyed by pyroclastic flows. The overall cost to repair this town was approximately 55,000,000$.

Type of Volcano

Volcanoes are classified into many types. These types are composite volcanoes, cinder cone volcanoes/ ash cinder volcano, shield volcanoes, lava domes/ domes, fissure volcano, and caldera volcanoes. El Chichon volcano is a lava-dome volcano. Lava-dome volcanoes are made by small but large amounts of lava, hence the name "lava dome", which can reach up to far distances. A lava-dome volcano turns out small at first but grows/expands because of the gasses and pressure within.

Size, Geography, Location

The El Chichon volcano was 3,773 feet, and that measures up to 1150 meters. El Chichon is located at Southern of Chiapas, Mexico. The co-ordinates 17.36 north/-93.23 west. It is in a separated/ isolated area of the Chiapas region. When the volcano was made. It was made on a huge crater measuring up to a width of 1.6 kilometers and a length of 2 kilometers.

History

Scientists have done research on their investigations which involve radiocarbon ages. This investigation proved that there had been three eruptions that happened nearly before the 1982 eruption. The investigation also showed that in the past 8000 years there was 11 eruptions at least which was caused by El Chichon. The results had also shown news about pottery fragments from about 2500 years before the present. The El Chichon volcano eruption also supports the Maya's civilization collapsing. The Maya civilization lived in Mesoamerica/ Yucatan peninsula.

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