Lake Ilopango#Eruptive history

File:SalvadorVolcanoEngraving.jpg

File:San Salvador From Space.jpg is pinned between the volcano San Salvador and Lake Ilopango Caldera. The Pacific Coast is adjacent south of the city]]

File:140121-F-BZ556-003 (12170992774).jpg

Four major dacitic–rhyolitic eruptions occurred during the late Pleistocene and Holocene, producing pyroclastic flows and tephra that blanketed much of the country.

{{Main|Tierra Blanca Joven eruption}}

The caldera collapsed most recently{{cite gvp | vnum=343060 | title=Ilopango: Eruptive History}} sometime between 410 and 535 CE (based on radiocarbon dating of plant life directly related to the eruption),{{cite journal |last=Dull |first=Robert A. |author2=Southon, John R. |author3=Sheets, Payson |year=2001 |title=Volcanism, Ecology and Culture: A Reassessment of the Volcan Ilopango Tbj eruption in the Southern Maya Realm |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=25–44 |doi=10.2307/971755|publisher=Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 12, No. 1 |jstor= 971755 |s2cid=163686184 }}, esp. p.27. which produced widespread pyroclastic flows and devastated Mayan cities; however, a team of scientists concluded that the volcanic eruption might have happened in {{value|431|2|u=CE}}, based on volcanic shards taken from ice cores in Greenland, levels of sulphur recorded in ice cores from Antarctica, and radiocarbon dating of a charred tree found in volcanic ash deposits.{{cite journal |author=Victoria C. Smith |display-authors=et al. |title=The magnitude and impact of the 431 CE Tierra Blanca Joven eruption of Ilopango, El Salvador |journal=PNAS |year=2020 |volume=117 |issue=42 |pages=26061–26068 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2003008117 |pmid=32989145 |pmc=7584997 |doi-access=free }} The eruption is estimated to have produced around {{convert|37-82|km3|cumi|abbr=on}} of ejecta (DRE—several times more than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens),{{cite journal|last1=Jicha|first1=Brian R|last2=Hernández|first2=Walter|title=Effusive and explosive eruptive history of the Ilopango caldera complex, El Salvador|journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research|volume=421|number=107426|date=January 2022|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2021.107426|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377027321002559|url-access=subscription|access-date=2023-12-29|doi-access=free}} which puts it at a rating of 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) and makes it one of the biggest volcanic events on Earth in the last 7,000 years.Greshko, M. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190823104634/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/08/colossal-volcano-behind-mystery-global-cooling-found/ Colossal volcano behind 'mystery' global cooling finally found]. National Geographic. 23 August 2019. Fallout from the eruption column blanketed an area of at least {{convert|10000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} with pumice and ash to a depth of at least {{convert|50|cm|in|abbr=on}}, and an area of nearly {{convert|2000000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} to a depth of at least {{convert|0.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}, which would have stopped all agricultural production in the most-severely affected area for decades. It is also theorized that the eruption and subsequent weather events and agricultural failures directly led to the abandonment of Teotihuacan by the original inhabitants.{{cite book|title=Eruptions that shook the world|author=Clive Oppenheimer|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-64112-8}}

It was hypothesized that this eruption caused the extreme weather events of 535–536 in Europe and Asia, but this is unlikely given the research published in 2020 that dates the eruption to 431 CE.

Later eruptions formed several lava domes within the lake and near its shore. The only historical eruption, which occurred from December 31, 1879, up to March 26, 1880, produced a lava dome and had a VEI of 3. The lava dome reached the surface of the lake, forming the islets known as Islas Quemadas.{{cite journal |last=Golombek |first=Matthew P. |author2=Carr, Michael J. |year=1978 |title=Tidal triggering of seismic and volcanic phenomena during the 1879–1880 eruption of Islas Quemadas volcano in El Salvador, Central America |journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research |volume=3 |issue=3–4 |pages=299–307 |doi=10.1016/0377-0273(78)90040-9 |bibcode = 1978JVGR....3..299G }}{{cite web |url=http://elsalvadorenelmundo.com/rutas/ilopango-historia-cultura-346.html |title=Historia y cultura de Ilopango |publisher=Elsalvadorenelmundo.com |access-date=2014-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204002411/http://elsalvadorenelmundo.com/rutas/ilopango-historia-cultura-346.html |archive-date=2014-02-04 |url-status=dead }}

On July 5, 2004 the illusionist, Francis Fanci was tagged and submerged inside a trunk from which he emerged after thirty seconds. On the other hand, in 2004 Matthew Hatfield Knight, eldest son of the owner of the international consortium of Nike sports shoes, died of a heart attack while diving with his colleagues. {{CN|date=February 2025}}

Ilopango Lake is also known for its exceptional scuba diving opportunities. One of the standout spots is Cerros Quemados, where divers can explore depths reaching up to {{convert|90|to|100|ft}}. This unique location features an underwater 'sand beach'. {{CN|date=February 2025}}

• List of volcanoes in El Salvador
• Volcanic winter of 536
• Year Without a Summer
• Tierra Blanca Joven eruption

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Ilopango Caldera}}

• [http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=343060 Global Volcanism Program: Ilopango]
• [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=41581&src=eoa-iotd Lake Ilopango] at NASA Earth Observatory website

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Category:Lakes of El Salvador

Category:Volcanoes of El Salvador

Category:Calderas of Central America

Category:Volcanic crater lakes

Category:VEI-6 volcanoes

Category:1879 natural disasters

Category:1880 natural disasters

Category:1879 in El Salvador

Category:1880 in El Salvador