Quakes spiked activity at El Popo
The September earthquakes shook things up at the volcano with the result that 2017 saw the largest number of volcano tectonic earthquakes ever recorded. FULL STORYQuakes caused spike in activity at El Popo
Tectonic earthquakes soared 558% at central Mexico volcano
The September earthquakes shook things up at El Popo with the result that 2017 saw the largest number of volcano tectonic earthquakes ever recorded at the active volcano in central Mexico.
Compared to the data from the previous 23 years, 2017 saw a whopping 558% increase in the number of such movements.
On September 7, an 8.2-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 630 kilometers from Popocatépetl, the volcano’s full name, rocked southeastern Mexico. Later that month, on September 19, a 7.1 earthquake hit central Mexico; its epicenter was located just 73 kilometers from the volcano.
The surge in the volcano’s activity has been directly attributed to the massive September earthquakes, leading to an increase in the pressure within Don Goyo, as the volcano is called by the residents living in its vicinity.
But just as the volcanic activity increased, so did the release of the pressure through explosions and emissions, said Carlos Valdés González, head of the National Center for Disaster Prevention.
Despite the increase in volcanic activity, El Popo’s volcanic alert remains at yellow, phase 2.
Valdés recalled that in 2000 the activity was intense enough to warrant the preventive evacuation of over 41,000 people.
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That year, a series of volcanic earthquake swarms were recorded on December 6 and again two days later, releasing during that short period of time the same amount of energy that it released during all of 1997.
The Popocatépetl volcano rises 5,452 meters above sea level and marks the middle of the trans-Mexican volcanic belt. El Popo is one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico, and given its location, the one that presents the largest risk.
It lies just 60 kilometers from Mexico City, 50 from the city of Tlaxcala and a mere 30 from the capital of Puebla. Over 23 million people live within a 100-kilometer radius of the volcano, and all are at some level of risk given its continuous activity.
A yellow, phase 2 alert means that the release of water vapor and gas plumes is to be expected, as is the light fall of ash in nearby areas along with incandescent fragments.
The alert level also warns of the possibility of eruptions causing pyroclastic flows and mudslides carrying debris, although at such a small scale that evacuation of neighboring inhabited areas is not required.
A security perimeter is enforced in a 12-kilometer radius of the crater, and traffic is controlled at Paso de Cortés, between the towns of Santiago Xalitzintla y San Pedro Nexapa, while local and regional Civil Protection offices remain ready to enact preventive procedures.
Source: Milenio (sp)
