Uturuncu Volcano

Uturuncu Volcano Latest News

A team recently mapped the inside of Bolivia’s Uturuncu volcano and found that its strange surface motions come from hot fluids and gases moving below the crater, not rising magma ready to erupt.

About Uturuncu Volcano

• It is a large dormant volcano located in southwestern Bolivia, within the Andes Mountains.
• It is a stratovolcano dominated by dacitic lava domes and flows.
• Elevation: About 6,008 meters (19,711 feet) above sea level — it is the tallest mountain in the southern part of Bolivia.
• Uturuncu last erupted 250,000 years ago, yet is seismically active and lies at the centre of a 70 km diameter uplifted region. 
• Beneath Uturuncu at a depth of about 10 to 20 kilometers lies a vast reservoir of magma called the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body. 
  • Spanning roughly 200 kilometers, it is the biggest known active magma body in the planet’s crust.
• The volcano displays a distinct “sombrero” shape, with the center rising and the surrounding areas sinking.
• Uturuncu is known as a “zombie” volcano because of its ongoing but non-eruptive activity.
  • The “zombie”-like unrest of Uturuncu is due to the movement of liquid and gas beneath the crater, with a low likelihood of an imminent eruption.
• The volcano currently experiences hundreds of small earthquakes per year.

Source: EARTH

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