Cerro Negro, Nicaragua

Location: 12.506 N, 86.702 W
Elevation: 2,388 feet (728 m)

Photograph of a Strombolian eruption at Cerro Negro in 1968. Copyrighted by Robert Decker.

 

Cerro Negro is the most recent basaltic cinder cone to form in the western hemisphere. The most recent eruption was in May-August 1995. The 1968 eruption is shown in the above U.S. Geological Survey photograph. The cinder cone was 750 feet (230 m) tall at that time. Note that the cone rests on older lava flows. Most eruptions at Cerro Negro produce both pyroclastic material and lava flows.

Cerro Negro has erupted at least 20 times since 1850. The longest eruption was in 1960 and lasted 3 months. Photograph of a 1968 eruption at Cerro Negro copyrighted by Robert Decker.

Photograph of the 1948 eruption of Cerro Negro by R.E. Wilcox, U.S. Geological Survey.

Click here for information on the 1995 eruption of Cerro Negro.

 

 Sources of Information: Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 1995, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., v. 20, no. 5, p. 2-4.  McClelland, L., Simkin, T., Summers, M., Nielson, E., Stein, T.C., 1989, Global volcanism 1975-1985: Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, 655 p.  Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the world: Geoscience Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.
Latitude (DD): 
12.51
Longitude (dd): 
-86.70
Elevation (m): 
728
Country: 
Nicaragua
Type: 
Cinder Cone