Tacaná Volcano 2.99

The Tacaná Volcano is the second highest peak in Central America at 4060m, located in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas of northern Guatemala and southern Mexico. The volcano is also known in Mexico as Volcán Tacina.GeographyThe volcano is located within the Tacaná municipality of the San Marcos Department in Guatemala; and within the Cacahoatán and Unión Juárez Municipalities of Chiapas state in Mexico.Its last known eruption was registered in 1986 — a small phreatic eruption in May — but it is still considered as dangerous to more than 250,000 people residing in the area.Tacaná is the first of hundreds of volcanoes in a 1500km km row, arranged NW to SE, parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast of Central America, known as the Central America Volcanic Arc, formed by an active subduction zone along the western boundary of the Caribbean Plate.The agricultural valley at its NNE foothills is covered with thick deposits of lahars. From its headwaters in Guatemala, the valley drains through Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Consequently, mudflows from future eruptions could be dangerous to those in their path in both countries.