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Location: Mexico, 19° N, 98.6°
W
Volcano Type: Strato volcano
Height: 17,883 ft
Popocatepetl, Popo for short, is an active strato volcano some 45 miles outside of Mexico City, the second most populated city in the world. The name means, in Aztec, "smoking mountain", which hints that the volcano has been active sine Aztec times. The volcano is 17,883 ft tall, and built on a extinct volcano, called Nexpayantla, that makes up the first 12,464 ft of it. The volcano is an almost perfect cone, and is covered in alternating layers of lava flows and thick pyroclastics. At Popo's peak there is an oval crater, which is 2,007 by 1,312 ft across, with almost vertical walls. A small spatter cone rises at the center of the crater some 115 ft. Since the Spanish conquest of Mexico Popo has erupted at least 36. Popo has been continuosly erupting since 1995.
Popo erupted for the second time in a period of two weeks, sending ash 2 miles up. The hot ash rained down on the outskirts of Mexico city, 45 miles to the northwest. The volcano erupted for a full 90 seconds, with a big boom, and a small earthquake that reattled the doors and windows of Mexico City.
