• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

GeoHub Liverpool

Header Right

University of Liverpool logo
  • Home
  • About
  • Team
  • Resources
    • Environment and Energy
    • Field Skills
    • Geohazards
    • Geophysics
    • Geological Time
    • Laboratory Techniques
    • Plate Tectonics
    • Rocks, Minerals and Fossils
    • Structural Geology
    • Volcanology
  • Links
    • Seminars
  • Field Safety
  • Herdman Symposium
  • Careers
  • Teachers’ Network
  • Blog
    • Earth Science Portrait
    • News
    • Herdman Symposium
  • Postcards From Fieldwork
  • Contact
  • FAQ’s
  • Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Team
  • Resources
    • Environment and Energy
    • Field Skills
    • Geohazards
    • Geophysics
    • Geological Time
    • Laboratory Techniques
    • Plate Tectonics
    • Rocks, Minerals and Fossils
    • Structural Geology
    • Volcanology
  • Links
    • Seminars
  • Field Safety
  • Herdman Symposium
  • Careers
  • Teachers’ Network
  • Blog
    • Earth Science Portrait
    • News
    • Herdman Symposium
  • Postcards From Fieldwork
  • Contact
  • FAQ’s
  • Search
Skye landscape

Exploring volcanic activity in Guatemala

Catch up with Dr. Paul Wallace as he and a team of Liverpool volcanologists embark on an adventure to Latin America to help mitigate the negative effects of volcanism…

23 June 2019 //  by Janine Kavanagh//  Leave a Comment

Dr. Paul Wallace

In early June 2019, I spent 10 days on fieldwork exploring three of Guatemala’s active volcanoes and investigating the different forms of volcanic activity. These included Santiaguito dome complex (Santa María), Volcán de Fuego and Volcán Pacaya. During the trip, I worked with Silvio De Angelis (seismologist at University of Liverpool), Armando Pineda and members of the National Institute for Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology of Guatemala (INSIVUMEH), which monitors volcanic hazards nationally.

For the first four days, we worked on and around Santa María volcano, which included climbing to its summit at ~3.7 km to gain the ideal viewpoint for safely observing eruptive activity at Santiaguito dome complex. We recorded several volcanic explosions, which occurred from the active Caliente vent, approximately every 30–60 minutes. We further took the opportunity to visit Santiaguito’s observatory (OVSAN) to spend a day with local scientists and maintain the monitoring equipment installed by our volcanology group in 2014.

Animation of explosion from active Santiaguito
An explosion from the active Caliente vent at Santiaguito dome complex (Explosion date: 6th June 2019 07:51 CST

From one active volcano to the next, we then travelled to Volcán de Fuego (volcano of fire). Here, we set up infrasound microphones (recording low frequency sound released during volcanic activity) to detect and characterise explosions releasing volcanic ash plumes and hazardous mud flows (lahars) which may swiftly threaten the local population. Ash samples from explosions were also collected, which, by analysing their chemistry and textures, will provide key information on the processes taking place within the volcanic system.

Monitoring explosions at Volcán de Fuego using infrasound microphones

We finally spent a day at Volcán Pacaya, where lava is currently effusing from the crater. Here, we monitored and tracked the advancement of a lava flow along the volcanoes western flank to evaluate possible hazards.

Participants in expedition
Volcanology team (Silvio De Angelis, Paul A Wallace and Armando Pineda) at Volcán Pacaya. Photograph on the right shows the advancing lava flow front

Following these highly insightful visits at the active volcanic centres, we spent three fruitful days working with colleagues at INSIVUMEH in Guatemala City. Guatemala is, geologically, a highly dynamic country where volcanic hazards (in addition to interactions of local tropical weather and seismic activity) increasingly threaten the growing national population and infrastructure. Discussions and efforts were thus focused on the impact of volcanic activity and associated hazards on local communities, seeking ways to jointly enhance mitigation strategies, whilst sharing best practices. We anticipate that the long-standing collaboration between the volcanology group at the University of Liverpool and INSIVUMEH will continue to make strides in building resilience to Guatemala’s persistent volcanic activity.

Share this post:

Share on X (Twitter) Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on E-mail

Category: Postcards From Fieldwork

Previous Post: «EGU logo Lessons learned from 30 years of engaging next generation geoscientists
Next Post: Rubber ducks and plate tectonics Wheeler»

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Above Footer

I am searching for:

Search by resource, format and keyword.

Footer

Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences

University of Liverpool
Jane Herdman Building,
4 Brownlow Street,
Liverpool L69 3GP,
United Kingdom
+44 (0)151 795 0618 / +44 (0)151 795 4642
geohub@liverpool.ac.uk

Stay in touch

Enter your email address below to receive news on our courses and updates to our resources.

Privacy Policy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Site Footer

Copyright © 2025 University of Liverpool, Department of Earth, Ocean & Ecological Sciences 2013 | Privacy Policy
Website by Callia Web