Izalco (volcano)

Left: Izalco and right: Cerro Verde

The volcano Izalco (Spanish: Volcán de Izalco ) is a volcano in the department of Santa Ana in El Salvador.

Formation

The volcano Izalco is the youngest volcano in El Salvador and one of the youngest of the American continent. It was 1770 when streamed from a stroma on the southern flank of Volcán de Ana smoke and ash. 196 years until 1958, the new volcano had almost continuous eruptions. The eruptions were so regular that he served for the shipping on the Pacific as Faro del Pacífico ( Lighthouse of the Pacific) for orientation. Due to the eruption a cone was formed from 650 meters above the level which corresponds to 1,952 m above sea level. When a volcanic eruption in 1926 the village Matazano was spilled and killed 56 people.

The crater has a diameter of 250 meters. The last eruption was in 1966. A hotel was built on the nearby Cerro Verde overlooking the erupting volcano, but the volcano turned the eruptions shortly before the completion of the hotel.

Since then, a reduction in the activity and of the temperature of its exhaust gases was determined. The Izalco is a stratovolcano with strombolian activity. The last eruption was huge and destroyed the top of the volcano, which meant that the height of the volcano was reduced to 200 meters. The volcano is located in a fertile area of coffee fincas, cocoa trees and sugar cane fields.

Environment

On its edge is the municipality of Izalco.

Type locality

Izalco is regarded as type locality (first location ) for the following minerals: Bannermanit, Blossit, Fingerit, Howardevansit, Lyonsite, Mcbirneyit, Stoiberit and Ziesit. A total of 19 different minerals and their varieties to date was discovered (as of 2013), such as, among others, augite, the feldspar andesine, labradorite and Bytownite and the sulfates Chalkanthit and thenardite.