Ixtepeque

Google Earth Placemark
  • Country
  • Subregion Name
  • Volcano Type
  • Last Known Eruption
  • 1292 m
  • 14.420°
  • -89.680°
  • Elevation
  • Latitude
  • Longitude

No latest activity reported for Ixtepeque.



 Available Weekly Reports


There are no weekly reports found.

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).


Start Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
Stop Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
VEI

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. {IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior}.

Williams H, McBirney A R, Dengo G, 1964. Geologic reconnaissance of southeastern Guatemala. {Univ Calif Pub Geol Sci}, 50: 1-62



Ixtepeque volcano, which takes its name from the Aztec word for obsidian, is perhaps the largest obsidian field in North America. A 4 x 5 km wide rhyolitic obsidian lava field was erupted within the Ipala graben from a craterless vent along a NE-trending fissure that passes through adjacent rhyolitic lava domes and basaltic cinder cones. Obsidian from Ixtepeque has shown up at archaeological sites across Central America. Flat-lying pumice beds produced by explosive eruptions preceding lava effusion are found locally around the volcano. Other obsidian flows originated from lava domes NE of Ixtepeque. These rhyolitic vents are interspersed with basaltic cinder cones and lava flows. Laguna de Obrajuelo is a complex cone cut by a large crater more than a km in diameter. Initial basaltic eruptions were followed by the extrusion of obsidian flows and the eruption of rhyolitic pumice that were considered by Williams et al. (1964) to be only a few thousand years old.