No latest activity reported for Platanar.

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

Alvarado G E, 1989. {Los Volcanes de Costa Rica}. San Jose, Costa Rica: Universidad Estatal a Distancia, 175 p

Alvarado G E, 2000. {Volcanes de Costa Rica: su geologia, historia y riqueza natural}. San Jose, Costa Rica: EUNED, 269 p

Alvarado G E, Carr M J, 1993. The Platanar-Aguas Zarcas volcanic centers, Costa Rica: spatial-temporal association of Quaternary calc-alkaline and alkaline volcanism. {Bull Volc}, 55: 443-453

Alvarado G E, Vega E, Chaves J, Vasquez M, 2004. Los grandes deslizamientos (volcanicos y no volcanicos) de tip debris avalanche en Costa Rica. {Rev Geol Amer Central}, 30: 83-99

Alvarado-Induni G E, 2005. {Costa Rica, Land of Volcanoes}. San Jose, Costa Rica: EUNID, 306 p

Barquero-H J, Saenz-R R, 1987. Aparatos volcanicos de Costa Rica. {Heredia, Costa Rica: OVSICORI-UNA}, 1:750,000 map and volcano list

Carr M J, 1984. Symmetrical and segmented variation of physical and geochemical characterisitics of the Central American volcanic front. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 20: 231-252

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

Smithsonian Institution-CSLP, 1968-75. [Event notification cards]. {Center for Short-Lived Phenomena (CSLP) Event Cards}

Stine C M, Banks N G, 1991. Costa Rica volcano profile. {U S Geol Surv Open-File Rpt}, 67 p

The Platanar volcanic center is the NW-most volcano in the Cordillera Central of Costa Rica. The massive complex covers about 900 sq km and is dominated by two largely Pleistocene stratovolcanoes, Platanar and Porvenir. These volcanoes were constructed within the Pleistocene Chocosuela caldera, which may have formed during a major slope failure. The 2183-m-high Cerro Platanar volcano (known locally as Volcán Congo) on the north side of the complex has prehistorical lava flows on its western flanks and is the youngest volcanic center. The highest peak of the complex is 2267-m-high Porvenir volcano, whose summit crater lies 3 km south of Platanar. A thin layer of phreatic ash suggested that an eruption from Platanar occurred within the past few thousand years (Stine and Banks, 1991). The Aguas Zarcas group of nine basaltic cinder cones, located on the north flank of the Platanar-Porvenir complex to as low as 160 m altitude, is in part Holocene in age.