Chapter 8 Volcanic Activity in Mexico During the Holocene José L. Macías and José L. Arce Abstract This chapter presents an overview of the volcanic eruptions that have occurred in Mexico during the Holocene. Although volcanic regions are distributed all over the country, Holocene eruptions are mainly concentrated in the southern half of the country and, in particular, in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Here, we summarize the details of the eruptions from the stratovolcanoes and monogenetic volcanoes, which have been extensively documented in the volcanological litera- ture, and their radiometric or historical dates. Out of the 153 Holocene eruptions described so far, ~63.4% have occurred at active stratovolcanoes and calderas, while the remaining ~36.6% have occurred from vents within monogenetic volcanic fields. Surprisingly, it seems that volcanism increased through time from Early (~17.7%), Middle (~26.8%) to Late Holocene (~55.5%). These figures may be biased because younger deposits are better preserved than older ones, and the latter usually are eroded through time especially around active stratovolcanoes. Around 24 eruptions (~15.6%) have taken place in pre-Hispanic and historical time out of which 11 occurred during the Little Ice Age. These eruptions have posed a serious threat to the surrounding regions and their populations. Some stratovolcanoes have collapsed at least once, covering and destroying previous deposits and making it difficult to reconstruct past eruption records. Large, Plinian to sub-Plinian eruptions at stratovolcanoes are well recorded in the stratigraphy, but the small eruptions that did not produce widespread deposits are difficult to define. Eruptions from monoge- netic volcanic fields were fed from central vents and fissures and mostly dominated by Strombolian activity and lava flows. The Holocene-collected data suggests that J. L. Macías (*) Instituto de Geofísica, Unidad Michoacán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico e-mail: [email protected] J. L. Arce Instituto de Geología, Departamento de Procesos Litosféricos, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 129 N. Torrescano-Valle et al. (eds.), The Holocene and Anthropocene Environmental History of Mexico, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31719-5_8 130 J. L. Macías and J. L. Arce an eruption has taken place every ~65 years in Mexican territory during the past 10 ka. Monogenetic volcanoes should not be underestimated because at least 56 volcanoes have been created in Mexico during the Holocene, yielding an average recurrence of ~176 years. This chapter stresses the need to improve our knowledge of Holocene volcanism (e.g. still limited studies in some volcanoes) aimed to define average recurrence intervals and provide the data for probabilistic studies and haz- ard assessment to reduce future volcanic hazards. Keywords Volcanism · Stratovolcanoes · Monogenetic fields · Geological · Historical · Modern records Introduction At first glance, Holocene volcanic areas in Mexico may appear in most parts of the territory (Fig. 8.1). However, this young volcanism is mainly concentrated in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB), the Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc (CVA), Fig. 8.1 Sketch map of tectonic settings in Mexico with boundaries of lithospheric plates and main volcanic regions. Abbreviations: TMVB, Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt; CAVA, Central American Volcanic Arc; CVA, Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc; LTVF, Los Tuxtlas Volcanic Field; PVF, Pinacate Volcanic Field; SQ, San Quintin; TV, Tres Vírgenes Volcanic Complex; Cp, Cerro Prieto; Ja, Jaraguay; SB, San Borja; So, Socorro; Pa, Roca Partida; Be, San Benedicto; Cla, Clarión; Ce, Ceboruco; Co, Colima; P, Parícutin; Jo, Jorullo; Nt, Nevado de Toluca; Po, Popocatépetl; Pi, Pico de Orizaba; Pe, Cofre de Perote; Ch, Chichón; and Ta, Tacaná 8 Volcanic Activity in Mexico During the Holocene 131 the northwestern edge of the Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA) and in random sites in Baja California (San Quintin volcanic fields), in El Pinacate Volcanic Field in Sonora (NW Mexico), and in the Revillagigedo Archipelago that is located at 700 km west of Manzanillo (see Fig. 8.1). Holocene volcanism has occurred from stratovolcanoes and monogenetic volcanic fields, and it has been explosive and effu- sive in nature (Schmincke 2004). Holocene volcanoes have experienced different types of eruptions including those associated with flank failure (i.e. Colima Volcano), Plinian to sub-Plinian columns (large magnitude in most stratovolcanoes as Popocatépetl and Nevado de Toluca), dome destruction (i.e. Colima), Strombolian activity (i.e. Paricutin Volcano), and lava flows (i.e. Pico de Orizaba and Ceboruco volcanoes; Alcalá-Reygosa et al. 2018; Nelson 1980). Stratovolcanoes form the big- gest volcanic structures for instance Popocatépetl, Nevado de Toluca, and Tacaná volcanoes, constituted by an overlapping of lavas and pyroclastic deposits, record- ing several eruptive events intercalated by long quiescent periods (thousands of years) and recording important chemical changes through its volcanic history (Smith and Németh 2017). Meanwhile, monogenetic volcanoes are small structures that record a single eruptive event (i.e. Paricutin, Jorullo, and Xitle volcanoes) that can last for several years but also with small changes in chemical composition (Smith and Németh 2017). Clusters of volcanic vents formed by scoria cones and lava domes, maars and small shield volcanoes, whose products were erupted in a relatively short period (<2 Ma) with similar petrologic composition (mostly mafic) and are associated with tectonic features (e.g. basins, rifts, fractures or fault sys- tems) are defined as volcanic fields (i.e. Connor and Conway2000 ). Some examples in Mexico include the Pinacate, San Quintín, Jaraguay, San Borja, Michoacán- Guanajuato, Chichinautzin, Apan–Tezontepec, Serdan Oriental, Xalapa, and Tuxtla Volcanic Fields. In this chapter, we summarize the current knowledge of Holocene volcanic activ- ity in Mexico in the light of recent research in different areas. The boundary of the Pleistocene–Holocene has been defined in the Greenland NGRIP2 ice core at age 11.7 ka b2k (before AD 2000; Walker et al. 2008, 2009). In this interval of time, we were able to compile the date and age of 153 well-constrained eruptions that left traceable deposits or produced new monogenetic volcanoes. The chronology of these eruptions was identified by stratigraphic relationships,14 C dates of paleosol and charcoal embedded in the deposits, some limited 40Ar/39Ar and exposure 36Cl ages, 230U-Th in zircons, and paleomagnetic determinations (Table 8.1). For the sake of simplicity, all dates mentioned in the text correspond to calibrated dates (cal. yr. BP) using the IntCal13 (Reimer et al. 2013) calibration curve, and 2σ range is included in Table 8.1. Some deposits of a single eruption (i.e. pink pumice of Popocatépetl; Siebe et al. 1996) have multiple 14C results for which we used the best estimation considered by the authors. Two volcanoes have been so active, Colima Volcano, Popocatépetl, in historical times that we have combined all their modern activity into a single eruption, that is 1962–2019 and 1994–2019, respectively. Other volcanoes as Tacaná in Chiapas-Guatemala resumed phreatic activity in 1949 and 1986, however, we did not count these events as proper eruptions because they did not produce juvenile material or traceable deposits. J. L. Macías and J. L. Arce Table 8.1 Database of all Holocene eruptions reported for stratovolcanoes, calderas, and monogenetic volcanoes in México 132 Location Sample Method Conventional age Calibrated age 2σ range Volcanic landform North West Type (‰) yr. BP. (yr. BP) Reference Stratovolcanoes Everman Lomas Coloradas basalt Charcoal in lacustrine 14C 4690 ± 270 6002–4628 1 sediments 1848 Historical record N.A. 2 1896 Historical record N.A. 2 May 22, 1951 Historical record N.A. 2 January 29, 1993 Modern record N.A. 2 Ceboruco Destiladero lava flow Based on stratigraphic position N.A. >1088 3 Jala Pumice 21°10′42″ 104°32′37″ Charcoal in paleosol below Jala 14C 1060 ± 55 1197–1022 3 Pumice Copales lava flow Based on stratigraphic position N.A. <1060 3 Cajón lava flow Based on stratigraphic position N.A. <1060 3 Coapan I lava flow Based on stratigraphic position N.A. <1060 3 El Norte lava flow Based on stratigraphic position N.A. <1528 3 Ceboruco lava flow Based on stratigraphic position N.A. <1528 3 1870–1875 lava flow Historical record N.A. Colima Paleofuego Unit H 14C 9770 ± 60 11,305–10,882 4 Mesa Yerbabuena DAD n.d. n.d. Charcoal in DAD 14C 9671 ± 88 11,231–10,756 5 Unit J n.d. n.d. Charcoal in pyroclastic deposit 14C 7750 ± 60 8510–8177 4 Unit K 14C 7530 ± 80 8510–8176 4 Unit L 14C 7520 ± 50 8409–8202 4 8 Unit M 14C 7070 ± 60 8008–7761 4 Volcanic Activity in MexicoVolcanic During the Holocene Alvarez–Coquimatlan DAD n.d. n.d. Charcoal in DAD 14C 7040 ± 160 8175–7590 6 Unit N 14C 6950 ± 50 7925–7679 4 Unit O 14C 6150 ± 40 7164–6943 4 Unit P 14C 5980 ± 50 6942–6678 4 Unit Q 14C 5850 ± 60 6791–6497 4 Unit R 14C 5550 ± 80 6498–6189 4 Unit S 14C 5430 ± 50 6312–6021 4 Unit T n.d. n.d. Charcoal in pyroclastic deposit 14C 4810 ± 50 5645–5333 4 Unit U 14C 4740 ± 40 5586–5326 4 Unit V n.d. n.d. Charcoal in pyroclastic deposit 14C 4540 ± 60 5445–4975 4 Unit W 14C 4480 ± 60 5309–4889 4 Unit Y n.d. n.d. Charcoal in pyroclastic deposit 14C 4460 ± 40 5295–4894 4 Unit X 14C 4380 ± 80 5286–4834 4 Fuego de Colima Los Ganchos DAD n.d. n.d. Charcoal in DAD 14C 3600 ± 120 4245–3587 7 El Remate DAD n.d. n.d. Charcoal in DAD 14C 2690 ± 40 2861–2748 8 Unit Z n.d.