# Almolonga

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This article is about a volcano. For the eponymous city, see [Almolonga, Quetzaltenango](/source/Almolonga,_Quetzaltenango).

The **Almolonga volcano**, also called "Cerro Quemado" (Burned Mountain) or "La Muela" (The Molar) due to its distinct shape, is an [andesitic](/source/Andesitic) [stratovolcano](/source/Stratovolcano) in the south-western department of [Quetzaltenango](/source/Quetzaltenango_(department)) in [Guatemala](/source/Guatemala). Part of the mountain range of the [Sierra Madre](/source/Sierra_Madre_de_Chiapas), the volcano is located near the town of [Almolonga](/source/Almolonga,_Quetzaltenango), just south of [Quetzaltenango](/source/Quetzaltenango), Guatemala's second largest city.

The volcano is set along the [Zunil fault](/source/Zunil_fault) zone and has a central caldera surrounded by several [dacitic](/source/Dacitic) and [rhyolitic](/source/Rhyolitic) [lava domes](/source/Lava_dome) and formed in a [back-arc](/source/Back-arc) volcanic setting, with activity commencing 84,000BP. Almolonga [stratovolcano](/source/Stratovolcano) is the oldest edifice and underwent collapse prior to the caldera forming eruption of [Lake Atitlan](/source/Lake_Atitlan), the major chronological marker of volcanism in the region. The collapse of the stratovolcano left a [caldera](/source/Caldera) with a diameter of 3,3 km and a depth of 350m that was subsequently occupied by lava domes on its northern edge and covered by [tephra](/source/Tephra) layers from numerous volcanoes, both in the Almolonga field and others. Cerro Quemado is the largest (about 2 km3) and youngest lava dome complex formed by eight vents with viscous lava flows and plugs during four distinct volcanic phases - the first two involving effusion of lava and formation of new domes. Cerro Quemado underwent a [flank collapse](/source/Volcanic_landslide#Flank_collapses) 1,150BP, generating a landslide that went 6 km SSW in the [Llano de Pinal](/source/Llano_de_Pinal) valley and occupied an area of 13 km2, generating a lateral blast that affected the neighbouring [Volcán Siete Orejas](/source/Volc%C3%A1n_Siete_Orejas) volcano as well. A lava dome emerged inside the collapse scar subsequently. 1818 an eruption formed a block lava flow over half a year that travelled 2.5 km eastward. Lahars and further explosive activity are potential hazards from this volcano.

## See also

- [List of volcanoes in Guatemala](/source/List_of_volcanoes_in_Guatemala)

## References

- Siebert, Lee; Kimberly, Paul; Pullinger, Carlos R. (1 January 2004). "The voluminous Acajutla debris avalanche from Santa Ana volcano, western El Salvador, and comparison with other Central American edifice-failure events". *Geological Society of America Special Papers*. **375**: 5–24. [doi:10.1130/0-8137-2375-2.5](https://doi.org/10.1130/0-8137-2375-2.5). ISBN 9780813723754. [ISSN 0072-1077](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0072-1077)
- Michael Conway, F.; Vallance, James W.; Rose, William I.; Johns, Glen W.; Paniagua, Sergio (1992). "Cerro Quemado, Guatemala: the volcanic history and hazards of an exogenous volcanic dome complex". *Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research*. **52** (4): 303–323. [Bibcode:1992JVGR...52..303M](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992JVGR...52..303M). [doi:10.1016/0377-0273(92)90051-E](https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-0273(92)90051-E). [ISSN 0377-0273](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0377-0273)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Almolonga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almolonga) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almolonga?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.