Popocatepetl volcano erupts after more than a month of quiescence, Mexico
Image credit: CENAPRED
Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano erupted at 05:36 UTC on June 7, 2022, after more than a month of relative quiescence. The Alert Level remains at Yellow, Phase Two (the middle level on a three-color scale).
In 24 hours to 16:00 UTC on June 7, the Popocatépetl volcano monitoring systems detected 30 low-intensity exhalations, accompanied by water vapor, volcanic gases and light amounts of ash, with the most notable event at 00:36 UTC.1
Additionally, 102 minutes of tremor were recorded.
During the morning and by 16:00 UTC, a slight emission of water vapor and volcanic gases with a southwest (SW) direction was observed.
CENAPRED urges residents and tourists not to approach the volcano and especially the crater, due to the danger of falling ballistic fragments and, in case of heavy rains, to stay away from the bottoms of ravines due to the danger of mud and debris flows.
Geological summary
Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, rises 70 km (44 miles) SE of Mexico City to form North America’s 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 400 x 600 m (1 312 x 1 968 feet) 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 to the south. The modern volcano was constructed south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone.
Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 CE, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid-Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian time.2
References:
1 CENAPRED monitoring report for the Popocatepetl volcano – June 7, 2022
2 Popocatepetl – Geological summary – GVP
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
