As most of you have heard by now, Nicaragua’s Volcan San Cristobal has erupted, which is not unusual as the volcano has been active for hundreds of years.  This is of course a subduction zone and San Cristobal is simply one of many volcanoes along this margin.  Most of my research has focused on northwest Nicaragua, so I know the area fairly well.  My main interest in San Cristobal was using argon dating to figure out how old it is, which turned out to be quite difficult.  Being an active volcano, the area has been subjected to many thousands of years worth of hydrothermal alteration, which makes it difficult to generate quality data.  My oldest argon age for San Cristobal was 160,000 years (see Carr et al. 2007 from my “about” page).

Given the sudden interest in one of my favorite volcanoes, I thought I’d share a few of my pictures taken during my fieldwork.  Enjoy.

This is about as close as you can get without being in the danger zone.

View of San Cristobal aligned with the smaller and not active El Chonco (meaning "the stump"). Taken from a bridge outside Chinandega.

The active San Cristobal at left. Picture taken from Volcan Telica.