Nevado del Tolima

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Nevado del Tolima

Nevado del Tolima in 1985
Elevation 5,200+ metres (17,060 feet)
Location Colombia
Range Cordillera Central
Coordinates 4.67° N 75.33° W
Type Stratovolcano
Volcanic arc/belt Andean Volcanic Belt
Last eruption 1943

Nevado del Tolima is a volcano located in Tolima Department, Colombia, south of Nevado del Ruiz volcano.

The steep-sided, glacier-clad Nevado del Tolima volcano contrasts with the broad profile of Nevado del Ruiz volcano to the north. The andesitic-dacitic younger Tolima volcano formed during the past 40,000 years, rising above and largely obscuring a 3-km-wide late-Pleistocene caldera. The summit consists of a cluster of late-Pleistocene to Holocene lava domes that were associated with thick block-lava flows on the northern and eastern flanks and extensive pyroclastic-flow deposits. The summit contains a funnel-shaped crater 200-300 m deep. Holocene activity has included explosive eruptions ranging in size from moderate to plinian. The last major eruption took place about 3600 years ago. Lava dome growth has produced block-and-ash flows that traveled primarily to the NE and SE. Minor explosive eruptions have been recorded from Tolima in the 19th and 20th centuries.

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