page_title: Cerro Negro
section_title: 1968 eruption
hierarchical_section_title: Cerro Negro / Eruptive history / 1968 eruption
caption_attribution_description: English: Ash falls at the left from a strombolian eruption column emanating from the summit crater of Cerro Negro volcano in 1968. At the same time incandescent spatter (lower right) is ejected from a small vent on the south flank of the cone. The 1968 eruption began on October 23 and lasted until December 15. The south-flank vent also fed a lava flow that traveled 1.5 km.
context_page_description: Cerro Negro is an active volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua, about 10 km from the village of Malpaisillo. It is a very new volcano, the youngest in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850. It consists of a gravelly basaltic cinder cone, which contrasts greatly with the surrounding verdant hillsides, and gives rise to its name, which means Black Hill.
  Cerro Negro has erupted frequently since its first eruption. One unusual aspect of several eruptions has been the emission of ash from the top of the cone, while lava erupts from fractures at the base.
  Cerro Negro is a polygenetic cinder cone that is part of the Central America Volcanic Arc, which formed as a result of the Cocos Plate subducting under the Caribbean Plate, at a rate of 9 cm per year. It is the largest and southernmost of four cinder cones that have formed along a NW-SE trend line in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range. Despite its youth, Cerro Negro has been one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua, with its latest eruption occurring in 1999. Since its birth in 1850, it has erupted approximately 23 times.
context_section_description: The volcanic activity from October 23 until December 10, 1968 marked the formation of the Cristo Rey crater, when the summit and south flank of Cerro Negro erupted with a sub-plinian VEI of 3.  The new vent formed a lava flow 750m long and 600m wide and a thickness of 3m.  Thirteen villages located near the erupting volcano were evacuated on the 27th because of the excessive ash falls.  Additional larger-scale evacuations Nicaragua's 2nd largest city, León, recorded ash falls of over 1 cm thick. Lava flows advanced at a rate of 23 m/day, and it caused additional land damage as the lava poured from three of Cerro Negro's craters, fountaining to heights of 30m into the air.   The eruptive ash columns reached heights of 2.3 to 4.8 km.  In addition, incandescent gases from the vents raised to heights of 120 meters, and these could be seen over 50 km away from the volcano.  When the volcanic activity ceased, the lava volume totaled 6.9 x 10⁶ m³ and the tephra volume totaled 2.7 x10⁷ m³.
caption: Eruption of Cerro Negro in 1968
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