No latest activity reported for Cayambe.

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.

Hall M L, 1977. {El Volcanismo en El Ecuador}. Quito: Biblioteca Ecuador, 120 p

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

Samaniego P, Eissen J-P, Monzier M, Robin C, Alvarado A, Yepes H, 2004. Los peligros volcanicos asociados con el Cayambe. {Corporacion Editora Nac IG-EPN, IRD}, 94 p

Samaniego P, Martin H, Monzier M, Robin C, Fornari M, Eissen J-P, Cotten J, 2005. Temporal evolution of magmatism in the Northern Volcanic Zone of the Andes: the geology and petrology of Cayambe volcanic complex (Ecuador). {J Petr}, 46: 2225-2252

Samaniego P, Monzier M, Robin C, Hall M L, 1998. Late Holocene eruptive activity at Nevado Cayambe volcano, Ecuador. {Bull Volc}, 59: 451-459

The massive compound andesitic-dacitic Cayambe stratovolcano is located on the isolated western edge of the Cordillera Real, east of the Inter-Andean Valley. The 5790-m-high volcano, whose southern flank lies astride the equator, is capped by extensive glaciers, which descend to 4200 m on the eastern Amazonian side. The modern Nevado Cayambe volcano, constructed to the east of older Pleistocene volcanic complexes, contains two summit lava domes located about 1.5 km apart, the western of which is the highest. Several other lava domes on the upper flanks have been the source of pyroclastic flows that reached the lower flanks of the volcano. A prominent Holocene pyroclastic cone on the lower eastern flank, La Virgen, fed thick andesitic lava flows that traveled about 10 km to the east. Nevado Cayambe was recently discovered to have produced frequent explosive eruptions during the Holocene beginning about 4000 years ago, and to have had a single historical eruption, during 1785-86.