Mexico's 'smoking mountain' lives up to its name
Mexico's 笔辞辫辞肠补迟茅辫别迟濒, North America's second largest volcano, is acting up.
Beginning聽Monday, red-hot rock, ash, and steam have begun spewing from the volcano a half-mile into the sky.聽In response, Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Centre to stage five (out of seven). 聽Several and local officials have readied emergency shelters.
笔辞辫辞肠补迟茅辫别迟濒 belongs to the group of stratovolcanos, otherwise known as composite volcanoes, which also includes the likes of Mount Shasta in California and Mount St. Helens in Washington.
In general, stratovolcanos are large, steep-sided, symmetrical cones composed of "," according to the US Geologic Survey.
笔辞辫辞肠补迟茅辫别迟濒 is 17,900-feet tall, glacier-clad and contains a steep-walled, 800-1,500-foot-deep crater.聽Its name means "smoking mountain" in Nahuatl, the region's indigenous language.
Hazards created by volcanic activity like this may include ash, lahars, and pyroclastic flows. Lahars are mudflows created by water mixing with volcanic materials like ash, while pyroclastic flows are caused by superheated gas combined with rock. Pyroclastic flows are relatively rare at 笔辞辫辞肠补迟茅辫别迟濒, however.
More than 30 million people live . It sits about 40 miles southeast of Mexico City, and is visible from the capital on a clear day.聽
During the last major eruption of 笔辞辫辞肠补迟茅辫别迟濒 in 2000, .
