Coatepeque Caldera ( Nawat: , "at the

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

hill") is a

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. The caldera was formed during a series of

rhyolitic Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The miner ...

explosive eruptions from a group of stratovolcanoes between about 72,000 and 57,000 years ago. Since then,

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

cinder cone A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, volcanic cone, conical landform of loose pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are forme ...

s and

lava flow Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

s formed near the west edge of the caldera, and six rhyodacitic

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...

s have formed. The youngest dome, Cerro Pacho, formed after 8000 BC.

Lake Coatepeque

Lake Coatepeque () is a large crater lake in the east part of the Coatepeque Caldera. It is in Coatepeque municipality, Santa Ana,

. There are

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s near the lake margins. At , it is one of the largest lakes in El Salvador. In the lake is the island of

Teopan Coatepeque Caldera ( Nawat: , "at the snake hill") is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador in Central America. The caldera was formed during a series of rhyolitic explosive eruptions from a group of stratovolcanoes between about 72,000 and 57,00 ...

, which was a Mayan site of some importance. File:Coatepeque - santa ana by mimamor.png File:Isla Teopán.jpg, Isla Teopán File:Ilamatepec cloud covered.JPG Lake Coatepeque is also known to change colors from blue to turquoise. According to authorities of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of El Salvador, this is a cyclical phenomenon that occurs from time to time. The color change has happened in 1998, 2006, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. https://elsalvador.travel/destination/coatepeque-lake/en/

References

External links

* Biosphere reserves of El Salvador Calderas of Central America Holocene calderas Lakes of El Salvador Pleistocene calderas Volcanic crater lakes Volcanoes of El Salvador Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Stratovolcanoes of El Salvador {{ElSalvador-geo-stub

Lake Coatepeque

See also

References

External links