Early morning eruption of Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica

After several days of weak but constant eruptions, Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano experienced what media described as "spectacular" eruption during the early morning hours of October 26, 2016.

The eruption occurred at 11:34 UTC (05:34 CST). Due to clear weather, it was seen and recorded from many places.

The National Meteorological Institute estimated that the dispersion of gasses and particles emitted by the eruption between 03:00 and 06:00 CST had a direction towards the northwest, up to 50 km (31 miles) around the crater.

"The emissions would affect areas such as Carrizal, Poás, Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, Coronado, Ipis, San Rafael de Heredia, San Isidro de Heredia, Central, Silvia, San Bosco, Lara, Echandi, Volio, and other nearby places," OVSICORI said.

The following images were sent to OVSICORI from different parts of the country:

Geological summary

Turrialba, the easternmost of Costa Rica's Holocene volcanoes, is a large vegetated basaltic-to-dacitic stratovolcano located across a broad saddle NE of Irazú volcano overlooking the city of Cartago. The massive 3340-m-high Turrialba is exceeded in height only by Irazú, covers an area of 500 sq km, and is one of Costa Rica's most voluminous volcanoes.

Three well-defined craters occur at the upper SW end of a broad 800 x 2200 m summit depression that is breached to the NE. Most activity originated from the summit vent complex, but two pyroclastic cones are located on the SW flank. Five major explosive eruptions have occurred during the past 3500 years. A series of explosive eruptions during the 19th century were sometimes accompanied by pyroclastic flows. Fumarolic activity continues at the central and SW summit craters. (GVP)

Featured image: Eruption of Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica on October 26, 2016. Credit: OVSICORI