Chichinautzin | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Chichinautzin is a volcano field located 36 km south of Mexico City. Instead of a single stratovolcano peak, it's a whole field of cinder cones and shield volcanoes. There are a total of 10 lava domes and almost 200 cones in the field. It extends over a total length of 90 km, starting immediately south of Mexico City. The highest peak in the field is the Ajusco Volcano lava dome complex, at an elevation of 3,930 meters. Other mountains in the region include Xitle (3,100m), Tlaloc (3,690m), Pelado (3,600m), and Cuautzin (3,510m).

Although it's dormant for the time being, the Chichinautzin region has experienced many eruptions. The most recent was in 400 AD. An eruption from Xitle in the Chichinautzin region destroyed the ancient city of Cuicuilco in 50 BC. This eruption produced a massive basaltic tube-fed lava flow that covered farms, pyramids, and the city of Cuicuilco. Other eruptions have happened during the Holocene period (up to 11,000 years ago), and none have been extremely powerful or dangerous.

We have written many articles about volcanoes for Universe Today. Here's an article about other volcanoes in Mexico, and here's an article about famous volcanoes around the world.

Want more resources on the Earth? Here's a link to NASA's Human Spaceflight page, and here's NASA's Visible Earth.

We have also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about Earth, as part of our tour through the Solar System – Episode 51: Earth.

Filed under: Astronomy

Tags: cinder cone, volcanism, volcano, volcanoes, volcanoes in mexico