As all of us know, Popocateptl has waken up. What are the chances of a big eruption? If so,what kind of eruption would it be? How will this affect the nearby cities? It is known that an eruption comes along with sismic movements, If a mayor eruptioin occurs how strong will this movements be?

Juan & Maria Guzman

I'm afraid that probably nobody knows how big any of Popocatepetl's eruptions will be at the moment. As far as I know, the volcanologists who are monitoring the volcano are not expecting a huge eruption based on their current data. However, volcanoes are difficult to understand so as they gather more and more data their predictions may change. As for the earthquakes, you are correct that almost all eruptions are accompanied by seismic activity. However, most volcano-related earthquakes are relatively small and concentrated around the vicinity of the volcano itself. The dangerous earthquakes in and around Mexico City are tectonic earthquakes, associated with the large-scale collision of the Cocos plate with the North American plate. Have you found the specific Popocatepetl information in VolcanoWorld? It is at: http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/current_volcs/popo/mar5popo.html

Sincerely,
Scott Rowland

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