Turrialba volcano's threat to the cities of the Central Valley of Costa Rica
(1, 2, 3)
Turrialba volcano lies on the
easternmost edge of the Central
Volcanic Range of Costa Rica,
<30 km away from the western
Central Valley (~2.1 million
inhabitants in 2010). Since the
winds mainly blow from the
Caribbean into mainland (E-W),
and Central Valley is downwind
from Turrialba, this poses a
potential major threat to cities in
there. Six powerful eruptions have
taken place from Turrialba during
the last 3400 years, and isopachs
show that ashfall mainly affected
the western Central Valley (where
the present cities of San José,
Heredia and Alajuela lie) and
lesser, the eastern Central Valley
(where Cartago is).
N to previous expectations, to southwest and west, reaching the
CORONADO
MORAVIA
ALAJUELITA
ASERRI
References
(3, 4) (2, 3) (1, 3) (1, 3)
Gerardo J. SOTO , Raúl MORA , Mauricio MORA , Rafael BARQUERO , Waldo TAYLOR ,
(1, 3) (1, 2, 3) (3, 4) (3, 4)
Alberto VARGAS , Guillermo E. ALVARADO , Carlos RAMÍREZ , Gino GONZÁLEZ ,
(2, 4) (1) (1)
Rolando MORA , Claudio PANIAGUA , José F. FERNÁNDEZ
(1) Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, (2) Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, Universidad de Costa Rica,
(3) Red Sismológica Nacional, (4) Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Barva V. Nicaragua
Turrialba has had summit Caribbean
Sea
fumaroles at least since
1723 and a strombolian-
Turrialba V. vulcanian eruption Turrialba
occurred in 1864-66, N volcano
Western severely affecting a radius P A
Central Irazú V.
R C
Valley of 3 km around the volcano, J T
and blowing ashes over the
capital San José, and down
A: Present Airport
Eastern to the Pacific coast, C: Cartago
Central
Valley
~130 km away. Since then, N: Nicoya
P: Puntarenas
Pacific Ocean
Panama
fumarolic activity (T~90ºC) J: San José
R: San Ramón
0 10 km
has been present. T: Turrialba
Distribution of ashes between
September 1864 and February 1866,
Turialba volcano and the Central Valley of Costa Rica.The ellipsoidal contour drawn according to the accounts
is the 10-cm isopach of the plinian-subplinian eruption that occurred aprox. in Above: Intense fumarolic activity, drawn by Thomas Francis Meagher contained in González (1910).
40 A.D (Reagan et al., 2006). The other two contours mark the possible limits in 1858 (Harper´s New Monthly Magazine, 1860). Below: drawing
of tephra fall during the last 3400 years. Prevailing winds blow to the W-SW. by geologist Karl von Seebach in 1865, during eruption.
Higher winds blow to the NE.
556 560 564
Location of main faults around
Tectonic swarms with epicenters the summit of Turrialba volcano 224
5 km along the main tectonic feature (in red, from Soto, 1988; and
N
Linkimer, 2003), and areas of
(a SW-trending zone with craters, seismicity since April 2007.
faults, pyroclastic cones and Epicenters June 2007-late 2009
fumaroles) have been recorded at
least since 1982. Epicenters Mayl 2007 220
Epicenters mid-late April 2007
Epicenters early-mid April 2007
New fracture with steaming in 2007
216
Aerial photograph and location of main seismicity 0 2 km
Areas affected by acid rain
May 17, 2009. Southwestern crater
in the surroundings of Turrialba volcano since 1982. Photo by A. Sanabria from Area with frequent acid rain (pH<5.6)
20 SW of the volcano Area with occasional acid rain (pH<5.6)
km
A restless stage initiated in 1995 and particularly
since 2007, when wider fumarolic areas (similar
to those observed in the 1850s-60s, see above),
Seismicity 1992-1996
escalating temperatures (T=200-300ºC) in them,
EQ swarm Sept. 1982 and seismicity around the southwestern crater
Aerial view, Dec. 26, 2009
EQs 1991 have appeared. Resulting acid rain (pH<5) has
2
remarkably affected ~50 km on the western flank.
On January 5-6, 2010, lithic ash was erupted due to strong
fumarolic-phreatic activity from a small newly-opened fumarolic
Distribution of ashes, January 5-6, 2010
vent (T>500ºC). The very fine ashes distributed in well accordance
capital, San José (35 km away).
Microphotography
TURRIALBA VOLCANO of the lithic ashes
erupted on 01/05/2010
(Courtesy of Research
Center in Microscopic
Structures).
SANTA CRUZ
Turrialba Volcano emits a translucent plume
of volcanic gases in this natural-color satellite
image from January 21, 2010. NASA Earth
Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using
EO-1 ALI data provided by the NASA EO-1 team.
Caption by Robert Simmon. Available at
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/
imagerecords/42000/42425/turrialba_ali_
2010021_lrg.jpg.
5 km
New vent opened during the eruption Oblique aerial view of the craters of
in early January 2010. Turrialba, with fumaroles from the SW
crater and the new vent.
Eruption
Future eruptions (months
to decades on), phreatic
Counts RSAM
or magmatic, pose a major
threat for farms and
housing 5 km around the
volcano and significant
threats to agriculture,
Time (days)
pastures and telecommu-
nications on the western
side of the volcano. The
Different views of the exhalative (intense most likely “biggest-
fumarolic) activity of the volcano. scenario eruption” would
• From the northeast (far left).
• From the southwest (upper center) affect up to 1.5 million
• From the west (30 km away, lower) people (see above on
showing Irazú volcano with clouds in the prehistorical distribution
foreground and Turrialba in the background.
Upper right is the RSAM from the CIMA of ashes) and aerial trans-
seismic station on the summit, from portation, because the
November 2009 to February 2010. There is main Costa Rican
a sharp change previous to the phreatic-
fumarolic eruption in early January. First, international airport lies
a decrease and then an increase during on the ash dispersion
the event. It is interpreted as a trend (see figure above
pressurization of the system due to
fracture closure previous to the eruption.
on 1864 ash dispersal).
GONZALEZ VIQUEZ, C., 1910: Temblores, terremotos, inundaciones y erupciones volcánicas en Costa Rica 1608-1910. - Tipografía de Avelino Alsina, 239 pp.
LINKIMER, L., 2003: Geotectónica del extremo oriental del Cinturón Deformado del Centro de Costa Rica. - 103 pp. Universidad de Costa Rica [Tesis Licenciatura].
REAGAN, M., DUARTE, E., SOTO, G.J. & FERNANDEZ, E., 2006: The eruptive history of Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica, and potential hazards from future eruptions. - In: Rose, W.I., Bluth, G.J.S., Carr, M.J.,
Ewert, J.W., Patino, L.C. & Vallance, J.W. (Eds.): Volcanic hazards in Central America. Geological Society of America Special Paper 412: 235-257, doi: 10.1130/2006.2412(13).
SOTO, G.J., 1988: Estructuras volcano-tectónicas del Volcán Turrialba, Costa Rica, América Central. - Actas V Congreso Geológico Chileno, Santiago, 8-12 de agosto de 1988, Tomo III: I 163-I 175.
www.rsn.geologia.ucr.ac.cr/ E-mail: katomirodriguez@yahoo.com