| Volcán de Agua | |
|---|---|
 Volcán de Agua, seen from Antigua, Guatemala, with temporary street carpeting for Easter celebrations in foreground. |
|
| Elevation | 3,760 metres (12,336 ft)[1] |
| Location | Guatemala |
| Coordinates | 14°27′54″N 90°44′35″W / 14.465°N 90.743°W[1] |
| Type | Stratovolcano |
| Last eruption | Holocene[1] |
| Translation | Volcano of Water (Spanish) |
Volcán de Agua is a stratovolcano located in the department of Sacatepéquez in Guatemala. It has been inactive since the mid 16th century. At 3,760 metres, Agua Volcano towers more than 3,500 metres above the Pacific coastal plain to the south and 2,000 metres above the Guatemalan highlands to the north. It dominates the local landscape except when hidden by cloud cover. The volcano is within 5 to 10 kilometres of the city of Antigua Guatemala and several other large towns situated on its northern apron. These towns have a combined population of nearly 100,000. It is within about 20 km of Escuintla (population, ca .100,000) to the south.[2] Coffee is grown on the volcano's lower slopes.
The local Kaqchikel people have always called the volcano Hunapú "place of flowers" or Jun Ajpu' "one hunter (The calendar date for the sacred site; a typical method for naming sacred sites in Mayan cosmovision)" in current Kaqchikel orthography. The Spanish conquistadors also called it Hunapú until a mudflow from the volcano in 1541 destroyed the original capital of Guatemala (now known as Ciudad Vieja) and the city was moved to the current site of Antigua following this disaster. As the lahar (landslide) produced a destructive flood of water, this prompted the modern name "Volcán de Agua" meaning "Volcano of Water", in contrast to the nearby "Volcán de Fuego" or "Volcano of Fire". The Kaqchikels call Volcan de Fuego Chi Gag, which translates to "where the fire is" or Chi Q'aq' in current Kaqchikel orthography.
Though the volcano has not been active since the mid 16th century, it has the potential to produce debris flows and lahars that could inundate nearby populated areas.[2]
The volcano was blanketed by its last snowfall in January 1967.
The Volcán de Agua has been declared a protected area in 1956 and covers an area of 4,450 Ha.[3]
Contents |
Gallery
 Agua as seen from the road from Chimaltenango to Antigua |
 Volcan de Agua as seen from Tecpan, Guatemala (80 km away). |
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c "Agua". Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1402-10=.
- ^ a b S.P. Schilling, J.W. Vallance, O. Matías, and M.M. Howell, 2001, Lahar Hazards at Agua Volcano, Guatemala: USGS Open-File Report 01-432
- ^ CONAP. "Listado áreas protegidas" (in Spanish). http://www.conap.gob.gt:7778/conap/areas-protegidas/sigap/listado-areas-protegidas/listado-areas-protegidas. Retrieved 2008.
External links
- Ideal Pictures Corp. Menace of Guatemala (Ideal What-Nots series), 1934 documentary now in the public domain. Hosted at the Internet Archive. The narrator has a patronizing attitude to Guatemalans, but the footage is interesting.
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