Volcanoes in Mexico form a significant part of the country's geological landscape, with numerous active and extinct volcanoes primarily located along the central-southern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The diverse array of volcanic features in Mexico includes stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, cinder cones, lava domes, and calderas.
Many of Mexico's volcanoes are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region characterized by frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Notable volcanoes include Popocatépetl, one of the country's most active and dangerous volcanoes, Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl), the highest peak in Mexico, and Parícutin, a cinder cone volcano that famously emerged from a cornfield in 1943. Volcanoes play a significant role in Mexico's geography, climate, and culture, influencing local ecosystems, agriculture, and human settlements. The volcanic activity also poses hazards to surrounding communities, necessitating ongoing monitoring and disaster preparedness efforts.
Types of volcanoes
Mexican volcanoes include cinder cone, composite, shield, and lava dome types, each forming in its own way. Cinder cone volcanoes are the simplest, forming from lava ejected from a single vent, which separates and solidifies into small fragments around the central vent to form an oval cone.
Composite or stratovolcanoes form some of the world’s most memorable mountains: Mount Rainier, Mount Fuji, and Mount Cotopaxi. These volcanoes are very steep sided and symmetrical cones produced by a conduit system channeling magma from deep in the Earth. They have many vents for escaping magma and grow up to thousands of meters tall. Composite volcanoes are also known to erupt violently, such as the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980.1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
Shield volcanoes are very large and look like shields from above, formed by repeated thin layers of lava pouring out in all directions from a central summit vent.
Lava dome volcanoes contain accumulations of lava too viscous to flow far down the slope. They commonly occur within the crators of large composite volcanoes. The accumulated lava may explode, releasing huge amounts of ash and rock.
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt is the Neogene volcanic arc along the southern edge of the North American plate, approximately 1000 kilometers long, overlying the Rivera and Cocos slabs. Uniquely, it is not parallel to the Middle American trench, where most stratovolcanoes are located. It has a wide range of chemical compositions, such as intraplate, and includes monogenetic volcano cones, shield volcanoes, lava domes, complexes, and major calderas. Some of the highest peaks are snow-covered year round. The Trans-Mexican Belt formed out of the Sierra Madre Occidental belt, as the Rivera plate begin to subduct beneath Central Mexico in the early to late Miocene. A slab tear propagating west to east across the back northern area of the belt generated asthenospheric heat in a mafic episode. At the end of the Miocene, flat slab subduction generated more silic volcanoes and pushed the belt further north. During the late Pliocene to Holocene, slab rollback moved the volcanic arc toward the trench to its present position.
List This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Mexico. Name Elevation (m) Elevation (ft) Location Last eruption Volcanic type!a!a!a-9e99~z~z~z9e99 Los Atlixcos 800 2625 —Shield Acatlán Volcanic Field 1990 6529 Pleistocene Caldera Volcán Bárcena 332 1089 1953Cinder Ceboruco 2280 7480 1875Composite Cerro Prieto 223 732 HoloceneComposite Sierra Chichinautzin 3930 12,894 400 CEShield El Chichón 1060 3478 1982Composite Cofre de Perote 4282 14,049 1150Shield Colima 4330 14,306 2019Composite Comondú-La Purísima 780 2559 —Cinder Coronado 440 1444 —Composite Las Cumbres 3940 12,926 3920 BCE ± 50Composite Las Derrumbadas 3480 11,417 —Composite Durango volcanic field 2075 6808 —Composite La Gloria Volcanic Field 3600 11,483 —Composite Guadalupe 1100 3609 —Shield Los Humeros 3150 10,335 4470 BCEComposite Iztaccihuatl 5286 17,342 HoloceneComposite Jaraguay volcanic field 960 3150 HoloceneComposite Jocotitlán 3910 12,828 1270 ± 75Composite El Jorullo 3170 10,397 1774Cinder La Malinche 4461 14,636 1170 BCE ± 50Composite Mascota Volcanic Field 2540 8399 HoloceneCinder Michoacán–Guanajuato volcanic field 3860 12,664 1952Cinder Moctezuma volcanic field 530,000 ± 200,000Composite Naolinco Volcanic Field 2000 6562 1200 BCECinder Nevado de Toluca 4690 15,354 1350 BCEComposite Papayo 3600 11,811 HoloceneComposite Parícutin 2800 1952Cinder Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl) 5,636 18,491 1846Composite Pinacate Peaks 1200 3937 —Composite Popocatépetl 5426 17,802 2024Composite Sierra la Primavera 2270 7448 PleistoceneComposite La Reforma Caldera - —Composite San Borja volcanic field 1360 4462 HoloceneCinder Isla San Luis 180 591 HoloceneShield San Martin Tuxtla 1650 5413 1796Shield San Quintín Volcanic Field 260 853 HoloceneShield Sangangüey 2353 7677 1742Composite Serdan-Oriental 3485 11,434 HoloceneComposite Socorro 1050 3445 1994Shield Tacaná 4060 13,320 1986Composite Tequila Volcano 2920 9,580 PleistoceneComposite Isla Tortuga 210 689 HoloceneShield Tres Virgenes 1940 6365 1857Composite Zitacuaro-Valle de Bravo 3500 11,483 3050 BCEComposite
Volcanic hazards A volcanic hazard is a process that can cause damage to anything or anyone. Tephra/ash is a hazard caused by many volcanoes. Ash covers items like buildings, vehicles, homes, etc., and if "animals or humans consume fine-grained ash, it can cause health problems.." Lahars are a kind of flowing volcanic hazard that can be harmful as they can take/drag anything in their way. Lahars can flow at varying speeds, making it difficult for people to escape from them. Pyroclastic flows, which are toxic gases created by hot clouds that can destroy all things they come into contact with, are another example of a volcanic hazard. Lava flows are the least deadly out of the volcanic hazards as "most move slowly enough that people can move out the way easily." However, objects, people, and more that go near the lava flows "will be knocked over, surrounded, buried, or ignited by the extremely hot temperature of lava."
Ring of Fire A lot of earthquakes and volcanoes are in the pacific ring of fire. In addition, the ring of fire is “a direct result of plate tectonics, and the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates" and Mexico’s volcanoes are part of this ring of fire. A specific Mexican volcano apart from the ring of fire is Popocatépetl, which is also one of the most dangerous volcanoes. This volcano lies “on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which is the result of the small Cocos Plate sub-ducting beneath the North American Plate”. The Popocatépetl volcano is a danger to a lot of people, so they have to be careful when or if this volcano erupts. In general, Mexico’s volcanoes are in the ring of fire, therefore people who live near the volcanoes listed above have to be careful with the volcanoes that will most likely erupt again.
Effects of volcanic eruptions on surrounding communities When a volcano erupts, the communities around them are affected depending on how big of an eruption occurred. Popocatépetl is an excellent example of the effects that volcanoes can have on a community. Popocatépetl is a famous volcano due to it being inactive for 50 years and coming back to life in 1994. Since 1994, it has been producing powerful explosions at irregular intervals. Over a period of several days of eruptions in 2013, it released a cloud of ash that would spew 2 miles high. In the city of San Pedro Nexapa, about 9.5 km (5.9 mi) from Popocatépetl, local residents were able to find small piles of ash on parts of the sidewalk. It is easy for ash to get picked up by the wind, and get passed around contaminating the air. Cars driving by pick up the ash with their exhaust, and with the volcano still erupting irregularly, ash is periodically being ejected. Following the explosions, a total of 17 flights were canceled “due to climate conditions and in accordance with their own international policies.” Other effects that volcanoes can have on communities in close proximity with the base are increased risk for ash clouds, mud flow, gases, earthquakes, and tsunamis. “During volcanic eruptions and their immediate aftermath, increased respiratory system morbidity has been observed as well as mortality among those affected by volcanic eruptions.”
Impact on tree growth Environmental effects on growth and survival of trees in Mexico from volcanic activity are significant. Using evidence from the effects of the 1855 - 1856 eruption of that Tacaná volcano and ash fall from the 1902 eruption of the Santa Maria volcano and the radial growth of trees at Tacaná. Because of these incidents, they caused two significant suppression events to happen. The first event took place from 1857 to 1868 which caused by the historic eruption of Tacaná, two years prior. A year later after the eruption of the Santa Maria volcano, the second suppression event started from 1903 to 1908, during which tree growth was affected by the thickness of ash fall from the eruption and deposited near each tree.Allende, Teodoro Carlon, et al. "Evidence of volcanic activity in the growth rings of trees at the Tacana volcano, Mexico-Guatemala border." Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol. 50, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 65+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A614078581/AONE?u=anon~8f14ba8e&sid=googleScholar&xid=806bfba4. Accessed 28 May 2023. Another example that the impact of volcano eruptions on forest ecosystems can be the 1913 Plinian eruption of Volćan de Fuego, 7.7 km to the south. This event was one of the largest explosive eruptions in Mexico and produced ash flow deposits up to 40 m thick. Also, this indicated extremely low growth in 1913 and 1914, radio growth reduction was over 30% in 75% of the sampled trees.
See also Central America Volcanic Arc Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt List of volcanoes in Guatemala List of volcanoes in the United States
References
Teodoro Carlón Allende, José Luis Macías, Manuel E. Mendoza, and José Villanueva Díaz. Evidence of volcanic activity in the growth rings of trees at the Tacaná volcano, Mexico–Guatemala border. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 50(1): 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2019-0214