Platanar Volcano

Platanar Volcano is located in the Cordillera Central mountain range. Part of a complex that covers 900 square kilometres (220,000 acres) and is dominated by Porvenir Volcano at 2,267 m (7,438 ft). It is located within the Juan Castro Blanco National Park.

Platanar Volcano
Highest point
Elevation2,183 metres (7,162 ft)
Coordinates10°18′00″N 84°21′58″W [1]
Geography
Platanar Volcano
Costa Rica
Geology
Age of rockHolocene
Mountain typeVolcano
Last eruptionUnknown

Physical aspects

It has a destroyed crater to the northwest.[2] Prehistoric lava flows on its western flank;[1] one of them, the so-called Florida flow, was perhaps created by Platanar's most recent activity. Cerro Porvenir has a truncated caldera at the summit with a cone inside.[2] Both of these are part of a composed stratovolcano of Upper Pleistocene age that on Platanar's side overlies the remains of Palmera's collapsed caldera, of probable late Pleistocene age.[3] Platanar has erupted lavas ranging from basalts to andesites in composition.[2]

Social and economic activities

The western flanks of both volcanoes are used for dairy farming.[4] In 1968 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) on Cerro Platanar were converted into a National Forest.[5]

Recent activity

On 30 March 1997 there were six earthquakes on the south flank, the strongest being of magnitude 2.7. A previous seismic swarm in April 1980 had lasted for 2–3 weeks.[6]

References
  1. "Platanar". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  2. Guillermo E. Alvarado Induni; Oscar Luis Chavarría-Aguilar, Guillermo E Alvarado Induni (2005). Costa Rica: Land of Volcanoes. EUNED. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-9968-31-366-7.
  3. Jean Pierre Bergoeing (15 June 2015). Geomorphology of Central America: A Syngenetic Perspective. Elsevier Science. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-0-12-803185-8.
  4. Hans Otto Spielmann (1969). Viehwirtschaft in Costa Rica: Struktur, Entwicklund und Stellung der Rinderhaltung in einem tropischen Entiwicklungsland (in German). Ludke bei der Uni. p. 210.
  5. Centro Nacional de Acción Pastoral (Costa Rica) (1990). La Montaña sagrada: una lucha por la vida (in Spanish). Centro Nacional de Acción Pastoral. p. 17.
  6. "Platanar-Bulletin Report". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
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