Ubinas Volcano

About Ubinas Volcano:

• Location:
  • Ubinas is a stratovolcano located in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes.
  • It is one of the most active volcanoes in Peru, with more than 26 eruptive episodes recorded in the last 500 years.
  • The Ubinas volcano is part of a group of seven volcanoes in southern Peru located within a volcanic zone that extends from southern Peru to northern Chile.
  • The affected area is situated within the “Ring of Fire,” a region encompassing the edges of the Pacific Ocean that is renowned for its volcanic activity and seismic events, such as earthquakes.
  • The upper portion of the volcano is made from lava flows from the Pleistocene. 
  • The depression (caldera) at the summit contains a cone of volcanic ash sporting a vent shaped like a funnel.  

What is a Stratovolcano?

• The stratovolcano is a tall, steep, and cone-shaped type of volcano.
• Unlike flat shield volcanoes like in Hawaii, they have higher peaks. At the peak, stratovolcanoes usually have a small crater.
• Stratovolcanoes build up on height by layering lava, ash and tephra. By definition, they have alternating layers of pyroclastics and lava.
• When ash falls or lava flows, it solidifies and makes a narrower cone.
• Strato Volcanoes comprise the largest percentage (~60%) of the Earth’s individual volcanoes.
• Strato volcanoes are usually about half-half lava and pyroclastic material, and the layering of these products gives them their other common name of composite volcanoes.

Q1) What are Shield Volcanoes?

Shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on Earth that actually look like volcanoes. The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are the most famous examples. Shield volcanoes are almost exclusively basalt, a type of lava that is very fluid when erupted. For this reason these volcanoes are not steep. Eruptions at shield volcanoes are only explosive if water somehow gets into the vent, otherwise they are characterized by low-explosivity fountaining that forms cinder cones and spatter cones at the vent, however, 90% of the volcano is lava rather than pyroclastic material

Source: Peru’s Ubinas Volcano Spews Smoke & Ash, Emergency Declared In Moquegua