Stay Curious

SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND UNLOCK ONE MORE ARTICLE FOR FREE.

Sign Up

VIEW OUR Privacy Policy


Discover Magazine Logo

WANT MORE? KEEP READING FOR AS LOW AS $1.99!

Subscribe

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

FIND MY SUBSCRIPTION
Advertisement

Ecuadoran Volcano Erupts for the First Time Since the '40s

The Cotopaxi eruption marks Ecuador's first since the 1940s, featuring small phreatic explosions and ash coating. Stay informed!

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

A view of Ecuador's Cotopaxi in 2011. Dave Lonsdale / Flicker | CC by 2.0 Ecuador was greeted this morning with a coating of ash from Cotopaxi. This eruption would be its first since explosions rocked the volcano in 1940 and possibly 1942. Today's eruption was quite small---two explosions that rained ash (see below) on the southern edge of Quito. Climbers on Cotopaxi heard the explosions in the early morning hours, both of which happened after earthquake swarms over the past few days.

Caída de #ceniza en la parroquia de #Tambillo producto de dos explosiones en el volcán #Cotopaxi esta madrugada. pic.twitter.com/kBItnephJO

— Lenin Vilatuña Moya (@leninandres19) August 14, 2015

At this point, little is known about the eruption characteristics, although at first glance, these appear to be steam-driven (phreatic) explosions of old lavas

at Cotopaxi's summit. Volcanologists from the Instituto Geofisico

will fly over the summit later today to ...

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe
Advertisement

0 Free Articles