Colima
Mexico
19.514°N, 103.62 °W; summit elev. 3,850 m
All times are local (= UTC – 7 hours)
Episode of lava effusion following the January 2013 sequence of explosions
As reported in BGVN 38:04, 18-months of calm at Volcán de Colima was interrupted by a
sequence of intermediate-to-small size Vulcanian explosions in January 2013. This sequence of
explosions excavated a 250,000 m3 crater in the 2007-2011 lava dome (figure 1).
Figure 1. The new crater at Colima that was formed during the January 2013 explosive sequence.
Photo was taken on 31 January 2013 during a flight of Civil Protection of Jalisco State. Courtesy of
Colima Volcano Observatory.
Episodes of effusive activity within the new crater were recorded between the explosive
events. Ane infrared image shows fresh magma at the crater base (figure 2).
Figure 2. Thermal image taken during a flight over Colima on 11 January showing the emergence
of fresh high temperature lava. Courtesy of Facultad de Ciencias, University of Colima.
Figure 3 summarizes the 2013 activity at Colima, indicating three stages. Those stages
were defined based on data from seismic (figure 3, A and B), and video (figure 3C) monitoring.
The first stage (St. 1) refers to the sequence of explosions described in (BGVN 38:04). On 15
February and the end of March (St. 2), video observations indicated continued gradual lava dome
growth in the new crater. The dome increased in height at the rate of ~1 m/day. As a result, during
this interval the maximum elevation of the volcano increased from 3,843 m to 3,874 m. The dome
continued to fill the crater through the end of March (figure 4). During April-November 2013 the
third stage (St. 3) of significant dome growth stopped.
Figure 3. Plots A-C describe the development of the 2013 eruption at Volcán de Colima., showing
three stages of development: Stage One (St. 1), involving explosions; Stage Two (St. 2), involving
dome growth and extra-crater lava flow; and Stage Three (St. 3), involving lack of measurable
dome growth but with ongoing explosions. [A] Daily variations in the number of small explosions
and rockfalls identified from a seismometer 4 km from the crater. [B] Variations in the radiated
seismic energy of explosive events recorded at a distance of 4 km. The four largest explosions of
the St.1 are shown with diamonds. [C] Variations in the maximum elevation of the growing lava
dome based on continuous video monitoring. Courtesy of Colima Volcano Observatory.
The February-March lava dome growth was accompanied by an increase in the frequency
and energy of the small explosions (figures 3A and 3B). Once the dome filled the crater a small
lava flow traveled toward the W (figure 4). Due to the steepness of this flank, much of the fresh
material descended as rockfalls, whose frequency increased from April (figure 3A).
Figure 4. The filled crater and the lava flow that was formed during the second stage of activity on
Colima’s western slope. Photo was taken on 19 April 2013 during a flight of Civil Protection of
Jalisco State. Courtesy of Colima Volcano Observatory.
During the third stage, the daily number of small explosions and rockfalls was quite stable.
This stage was associated with the occurrence of 14 lahars that began with the rainy season being
registered between 11 June and 8 October 2013 descending the flanks of the volcano (figure 5). The
largest, lasting around 6 hours, occurred on 16 September 2013, when the Pacific coast was affected
by tropical cyclone Manuel.
Figure 5. Block-rich front of the 11 June 2013 lahar recorded along the Montegrande ravine by the
lahar monitoring station located 5.8 km S of the crater. Courtesy of Centro de Geociencias, UNAM.
2014. On 21 January 2014 the Washington VAAC first reported scattered ash emissions
drifting S at 4.9 km altitude followed by a second and third emission that drifted SSW and S ,
respectively. Smaller ash emissions were noted throughout the following weeks. For example,
Washington VAAC reported that on 7 February a small emission rose and drifted E then SE,
followed by a later one the same day that drifted SE.
From data provided by the Mexico Meteorological Watch Office, on 28 February an ash
emission drifted 15 km SE at altitudes up to 4.6 km, and the following day, on 1 March, two
emissions were reported drifting NNW, followed by three other plumes later the same day.
The Washington VACC continued to report on activity as seen from satellite imaging,
noting another emission on 6 March that drifted NE before dissipating and ; an emission on 12
March that drifted 25 km NNE before similarly dissipating; and a 19 March emission, which rose
to 4.6 km and drifted E before dissipating 30 km from the source. A separate later plume followed
on 22 March and drifted N.
Reference. Washington VAAC http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html Volcano
Discovery http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/colima.html.
Geological summary. The Colima volcanic complex is the most prominent volcanic center
of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de
Colima (the 4320 m high point of the complex) on the north and the 3850-m-high historically active
Volcán de Colima at the south. A group of cinder cones of late-Pleistocene age is located on the
floor of the Colima graben west and east of the Colima complex. Volcán de Colima (also known as
Volcán Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera, breached to the
south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred
repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, and have produced a thick apron of debrisavalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent historical eruptions date back to the 16th
century. Occasional major explosive eruptions (most recently in 1913) have destroyed the summit
and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome
growth.
Information Contacts: Observatorio Vulcanologico de la Universidad de Colima (Colima
Volcanological Observatory), Calle Manuel Payno, 209 Colima, Col., 28045 Mexico (URL:
http://www.ucol.mex/volc/); Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Colima; Washington Volcanic
Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), NOAA Science Center Room 401, 5200 Auth road, Camp Springs,
MD 20746, USA (URL: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC).