Evolution of the Paricutin Eruption

These diagrams show the evolution of the Paricutin lava flows. A flow such as this, that is made up of many smaller portions, is called either a "flow field" or a "compound flow". In each diagram the newest flows (as of the date in the upper left corner) are in red, and the earlier flows are dark gray. Note that for a number of the later dates, the newest flows erupted out of the flow field onto the surface from locations a few kilometers from the cone. A secondary "vent" where lava gets to the surface after traveling in tubes, is called a "bocca" after the Spanish word for "mouth". The scalebar in the lower right of each diagram is 1 km long.

These diagrams that show how the Paricutin eruption evolved are from the recent book: "Paricutin The Volcano Born in a Mexican Cornfield" by James Luhr and Tom Simkin. Diagrams like these are instructive because they illustrate how complicated a single cinder cone or lava flow field really is. Many times we study old features where there was no careful recording of the eruption, and it is essentially impossible to piece together the details.

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