Download Paricutin, Michoacán, Mexico “The Volcano that Grew Out of a

Paricutin, Michoacán, Mexico
“The Volcano that Grew Out of a Cornfield”
Do you know which volcano in the Trans-Mexican Volcano Belt poured out an
astonishing 1 billion tons of lava during its 9 year life span? That would be Paricutin
the volcano that covered the village of Paricutin and the town of San Juan
Parangaricutiro with lava and ashes. Paricutin is a well known volcano because of its
story of where it was formed and somewhat of myths. The volcano had a very big
impact on all the land around it after it formed. Paricutin is also has a SIMA-SIAL
convergence.
First of all, is located the state of Michoacán Mexico. It is located near the
village of Paricutin where it gets its name from and the town of Parangaricutiro.
Paricutin is a cinder cone volcano. Besides being a cinder cone volcano Paricutin is
also a monogenic volcano which means it will never erupt again. It’s one of the many
volcanoes in the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcano Field. This field covers almost all of
West Central Mexico. Paricutin has not erupted in almost 60 years. Its last
eruption has been in 1952.
Paricutin first started as a fissure (a volcanic vent in which magma comes
out). The land on which the volcano was forming on was owned by a farmer named
Dionisio Pulido. This is why Paricutin is called “The Volcano that Grew Out of a
Cornfield”. It first started to form around February 20, 1943. It was one day while
Pulido and his family were plowing the field that they saw the first eruption of
many to come from Paricutin. After one week the volcano had grown to be as tall as
a building that was 5 stories high. Many people from the surrounding villages and
town had to evacuate their homes because they were afraid the volcano might
explode and possibly kill them. After one year the once small fissure had grown an
amazingly 336 meters high. The final 6 months of Paricutin were the worst of all
the eruptions throughout its lifetime. It would continue to erupt until 1952.
Paricutin had a very large impact on the surrounding areas, cities, people, and
farms. When the volcano erupted some of the ash had traveled all the way to
Mexico City.
The plate tectonics for this volcano is called SIMA-SIAL convergence.
SIMA stands for oceanic crust, and SIAL stands for continental crust.
Convergence means the plates are moving toward each other. The name of the
SIMA plate is
Plate, and the name of the SIAL plate is the
Plate. In this
situation, the SIMA plate subducts, or dives, under the SIAL plate. Subduction
causes friction which melts the rock into magma. The magma rises to the surface in
the form of an EXPLOSIVE COMPOSITE CONE VOLCANO. The friction also
causes earthquakes.