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45-666: (Redirected from Atitlan ) Atitlán may refer to: Lago de Atitlán , a lake in Guatemala Santiago Atitlán , a municipality in the Sololá department of Guatemala Santiago Atitlán, Oaxaca , a town and municipality in south-western Mexico Volcán Atitlán , a volcano in Guatemala [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with

90-478: A stratigraphic marker in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans (known as Y-8 ash in marine deposits). A chocoyo is a type of bird which is often found nesting in the relatively soft ash layer. Since the end of Los Chocoyos, continuing volcanic activity has built three volcanoes in the caldera. Volcán Atitlán lies on the southern rim of the caldera, while Volcán San Pedro and Volcán Tolimán lie within

135-659: A single buoyant jet of magma from the Earth's core instead of cracks in the ocean floor. This is reflected in the decreasing age of the islands east to west from Fuerteventura to El Hierro. There are about 60 volcanoes in Ethiopia, located in east Africa. In Southern Ethiopia, the Omo Kibish Rock Formation is composed of layers of tephra and sediment. Within these layers, several fossils have been discovered. In 1967, 2 Homo sapiens fossils were discovered in

180-486: A thick bloom of algae known as Microcystis cyanobacteria re-appeared in Lake Atitlan; the first major occurrence was in 2009. Bureaucratic red tape has been blamed for the lack of action to save the lake. If current activities continue unchecked, the toxification of the lake will make it unsuitable for human use. The lake is surrounded by many villages in which Maya culture is still prevalent and traditional dress

225-464: A variety of farm crops, most notably corn and onions. Significant agricultural crops include: corn, onions, beans, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, chile verde, strawberries and pitahaya fruit. The lake itself is a significant food source for the largely indigenous population. The first volcanic activity in the region occurred about 11 million years ago, and since then the region has seen four separate episodes of volcanic growth and caldera collapse,

270-432: A variety of tephra including ash, cinders, and blocks. These layers settle on the land and, over time, sedimentation occurs incorporating these tephra layers into the geologic record. Tephrochronology is a geochronological technique that uses discrete layers of tephra—volcanic ash from a single eruption—to create a chronological framework in which paleoenvironmental or archaeological records can be placed. Often, when

315-448: A volcano explodes, biological organisms are killed and their remains are buried within the tephra layer. These fossils are later dated by scientists to determine the age of the fossil and its place within the geologic record. Tephra is any sized or composition pyroclastic material produced by an explosive volcanic eruption and precise geological definitions exist. It consists of a variety of materials, typically glassy particles formed by

360-484: Is a religious site for locals. It last erupted in 1903. In 2017, new fossil evidence was discovered that determined the date of Paektu Mountain's first eruption, which had been a mystery. A team of scientists directed by Dr. Clive Oppenheimer, British volcanologist , discovered a larch trunk embedded within Paektu Mountain. After radiocarbon dating, the larch was determined to be 264 years old which coincides with

405-449: Is approximately 18 km × 8 km (11.2 mi × 5.0 mi) with around 20 km (4.8 cu mi) of water. Atitlán is an endorheic lake, fed by two nearby rivers and not draining into the ocean. It is shaped by deep surrounding escarpments and three volcanoes on its southern flank. The lake basin is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed by a supervolcanic eruption 84,000 years ago. The culture of

450-450: Is noted for its worship of Maximón , an idol formed by the fusion of traditional Mayan deities, Catholic saints, and conquistador legends. The institutionalized effigy of Maximón is under the control of a local religious brotherhood and resides in various houses of its membership during the course of a year, being most ceremonially moved in a grand procession during Semana Santa . Several towns in Guatemala have similar cults, most notably

495-466: Is over forty thousand years old and has erupted 11 times since 1800. In South America , there are several historic active volcanoes. In southern Chile , the Chaitén volcano erupted in 2011 adding 160 meters to its rim. Prehistoric weapons and tools, formed from obsidian tephra blocks, were dated at 5,610 years ago and were discovered 400 km away. Due to the location of the subduction zone of

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540-581: Is used in broad context within an account by Aristotle of an eruption on Vulcano (Hiera) in Meteorologica . The release of tephra into the troposphere affects the environment physically and chemically. Physically, volcanic blocks damage local flora and human settlements. Ash damages communication and electrical systems, coats forests and plant life, reducing photosynthesis , and pollutes groundwater . Tephra changes below- and above-ground air and water movement. Chemically, tephra release can affect

585-692: Is worn. The Maya people of Atitlán are predominantly Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel . During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Kaqchikel initially allied themselves with the invaders to defeat their historic enemies, the Tz'utujil and K'iche' Maya, but were themselves conquered and subdued when they refused to pay tribute to the Spanish. Santiago Atitlán is the largest of the lakeside communities, and it

630-533: The Canary Islands . The most recent El Hierro eruption occurred underwater, in 2011, and caused earthquakes and landslides throughout the Canary Islands. Instead of ash, floating rocks, 'restingolites' were released after every eruption. After the 2011 eruption, fossils of single-celled marine organisms were found in the restingolites verifying the origin theory that Canary Island growth comes from

675-507: The Omo Kibish Formation by Richard Leaky , a paleoanthropologist. After radiocarbon dating, they were determined to be 195 thousand years old. Other mammals discovered in the formation include Hylochoerus meinertzhageni (forest hog) and Cephalophus (antelope). In Asia, several volcanic eruptions are still influencing local cultures today. In North Korea, Paektu Mountain , a stratovolcano, first erupted in 946 AD and

720-704: The Roman culture. Also, in Italy, Stromboli volcano , a stratovolcano, last erupted in July 2019. Several volcanic eruptions have been studied in North America . On 18 May 1980, Mount St. Helens , a stratovolcano in Washington state , erupted, spreading five hundred million tons of tephra ash across Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho causing earthquakes , rockslides , and megatsunami which severely altered

765-659: The extinction of the Atitlan grebe , a rare bird that lived only in the vicinity of Lake Atitlán. A unique aspect of the climate is what is referred to as Xocomil (of the Kaqchickel language meaning "the wind that carried away sin"). This wind is common late morning and afternoon across the lake; it is said to be the encounter of warm winds from Pacific meeting colder winds from the North. The winds can result in violent water turbulence, enough to capsize boats. In August 2015

810-527: The water cycle . Tephra particles can cause ice crystals to grow in clouds, which increases precipitation . Nearby watersheds and the ocean can experience elevated mineral levels, especially iron , which can cause explosive population growth in plankton communities. This, in turn, can result in eutrophication . In addition to tephrochronology, tephra is used by a variety of scientific disciplines including geology , paleoecology , anthropology , and paleontology , to date fossils, identify dates within

855-596: The 946 AD eruption. Its tree rings are being studied and many new discoveries are being made about North Korea during that time. In northeastern China, a large volcanic eruption in the early Cretaceous caused the fossilization of an entire ecosystem known as the Jehol Biota when powerful pyroclastic flows inundated the area. The deposits include many perfectly preserved fossils of dinosaurs , birds , mammals , reptiles , fish , frogs , plants , and insects . Europe's volcanoes provide unique information about

900-684: The Lake Museum in Atitlán. Because of the concerns of a private organization as is the Lake Museum in Atitlán the need to start the exploration of the inland waters in Guatemala was analyzed. There is no road that circles the lake. Communities are reached by boat or roads from the mountains that may have brief extensions along the shore. Jaibalito can only be reached by boat. Santa Catarina Palopó and San Antonio Palopó are linked by road to Panajachel. Main places otherwise are Santa Clara La Laguna , San Juan La Laguna , and San Pedro La Laguna in

945-513: The caldera. San Pedro is the oldest of the three and seems to have stopped erupting about 40,000 years ago. Tolimán began growing after San Pedro stopped erupting and probably remains active, although it has not erupted in historic times. Atitlán has developed almost entirely in the last 10,000 years and remains active, its most recent eruption having occurred in 1853. On February 4, 1976, a very large earthquake (magnitude 7.5) struck Guatemala, killing more than 26,000 people. The earthquake fractured

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990-499: The cooling of droplets of magma , which may be vesicular, solid or flake-like, and a varying proportions of crystalline and mineral components originating from the mountain and the walls of the vent. As the particles fall to the ground, they are sorted to a certain extent by the wind and gravitational forces and form layers of unconsolidated material. The particles are further moved by ground surface or submarine water flow. The distribution of tephra following an eruption usually involves

1035-525: The cult of San Simón in Zunil . While Maya culture is predominant in most lakeside communities, Panajachel has been overwhelmed over the years by Guatemalan and foreign tourists. It attracted many hippies in the 1960s, and although the civil war caused many foreigners to leave, the end of hostilities in 1996 saw visitor numbers boom again, and the town's economy is almost entirely reliant on tourism today. Several Mayan archeological sites have been found at

1080-470: The eastern Pacific's Nazca Plate, there are twenty one active volcanoes in southern Peru . In 2006, fossils, found under a layer of volcanic ash in Peru, were excavated by a team of paleontologists led by Mark D. Uhen, professor at George Mason University. The fossils were identified as 3 different types of archaeocetes, prehistoric whales, and are older than 36.61 million years which, as of 2011, makes them

1125-509: The fossils record, and learn about prehistoric cultures and ecosystems. For example, carbonatite tephra found at Oldoinyo Lengai (a volcano in the East African Rift Valley) has buried and preserved fossilized footprints of humans near the site of the eruption. Under certain conditions, volcanic blocks can be preserved for billions of years and can travel up to 400 km away from the eruption. Volcanic eruptions around

1170-489: The history of Italy . One example is Mount Vesuvius , a stratovolcano located in southern Italy, which last erupted in March 1944. Earlier, in 79 AD, in an eruption which lasted 12 to 18 hours, Vesuvius had covered the city of Pompeii in molten lava, ash, pumice, volcanic blocks, and toxic gases. Much of the town was preserved and organic materials fossilized by the volcanic ash, and that has provided valuable information about

1215-407: The lake bed and caused subsurface drainage from the lake, allowing the water level to drop two metres (6 ft 7 in) within one month. In 1955, the area around Lake Atitlán became a national park . The lake was mostly unknown to the rest of the world, and Guatemala was seeking ways to increase tourism and boost the local economy. It was suggested by Pan American World Airways that stocking

1260-430: The lake was the scene of many terrible human rights abuses, as the government pursued a scorched earth policy. Indigenous people were assumed to be universally supportive of the guerrillas who were fighting against the government, and were targeted for brutal reprisals. Some believe that hundreds of Maya from Santiago Atitlán have disappeared during the conflict. Two events of this era made international news. One

1305-406: The lake with a fish prized by anglers would be a way to do just that. As a result, an exotic non-native species , the black bass , was introduced into the lake in 1958. The bass quickly took to its new home and caused a radical change in the species composition of the lake. The predatory bass caused the elimination of more than two-thirds of the native fish species in the lake and contributed to

1350-581: The lake. Sambaj, located approximately 55 feet below the current lake level, appears to be from at least the pre-classic period. There are remains of multiple groups of buildings, including one particular group of large buildings that are believed to have been the city center. A project titled "Underwater archeology in the Lake Atitlán. Sambaj 2003 Guatemala" was recently approved by the Government of Guatemala in cooperation with Fundación Albenga and

1395-467: The largest boulders falling to the ground quickest, therefore closest to the vent, while smaller fragments travel further – ash can often travel for thousands of miles, even circumglobal, as it can stay in the stratosphere for days to weeks following an eruption. When large amounts of tephra accumulate in the atmosphere from massive volcanic eruptions (or from a multitude of smaller eruptions occurring simultaneously), they can reflect light and heat from

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1440-417: The massacre was damaged in the 2005 mudslide. Torrential rains from Hurricane Stan caused extensive damage throughout Guatemala in early October 2005, particularly around Lake Atitlán. A massive landslide buried the lakeside village of Panabaj , causing the death of as many as 1,400 residents, leaving 5,000 homeless, and many bodies buried under tonnes of earth. Following this event, Diego Esquina Mendoza,

1485-476: The mayor of Santiago Atitlán, declared the community a mass gravesite: "Those buried by the mudslide may never be rescued. Here they will stay buried, under five meters of mud. Panabáj is now a cemetery." Four and a half years after Hurricane Stan, Tropical Storm Agatha dropped even more rainfall causing extensive damages to the region resulting in dozens of deaths between San Lucas Tolimán and San Antonio Palopó . Since then roads have been reopened and travel to

1530-530: The most recent of which began about 1.8 million years ago and culminated in the formation of the present caldera. The lake now fills a large part of the caldera, reaching depths of up to 340 m (1,120 ft). The caldera-forming eruption is known as Los Chocoyos eruption and ejected up to 300 km (72 cu mi) of tephra . The enormous eruption dispersed ash over an area of some 6,000,000 square kilometres (2,300,000 sq mi): it has been detected from Florida to Ecuador , and can be used as

1575-418: The region has returned to normal. Tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts . Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they remain as tephra unless hot enough to fuse into pyroclastic rock or tuff . When a volcano explodes, it releases

1620-481: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atitlán&oldid=1153283649 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lago de Atitl%C3%A1n Atitlán means "between

1665-596: The size of the eruption. Tephra fragments are classified by size: The use of tephra layers, which bear their own unique chemistry and character, as temporal marker horizons in archaeological and geological sites, is known as tephrochronology . The word "tephra" and "pyroclast" both derive from Greek : The word τέφρα ( téphra ) means "ash", while pyroclast is derived from the Greek πῦρ ( pyr ), meaning "fire", and κλαστός ( klastós ), meaning "broken in pieces". The word τέφραv (means "ashes")

1710-404: The sun back through the atmosphere, in some cases causing the temperature to drop, resulting in a temporary " volcanic winter ". The effects of acidic rain and snow, the precipitation caused by tephra discharges into the atmosphere, can be seen for years after the eruptions have stopped. Tephra eruptions can affect ecosystems across millions of square kilometres or even entire continents depending on

1755-536: The topography of nearby areas. In Yellowstone National Park , eruption-related flooding caused trees to collapse and wash into lake beds where they fossilized. Nearby forests were flooded, removing bark, leaves, and tree limbs. In 2006, the Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupted generating earthquakes, avalanches , and projected tephra ash approximately two hundred and ninety kilometers away. This dome volcano

1800-528: The towns and villages surrounding Lake Atitlán is influenced by the Maya people . The lake is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west-northwest of Antigua . It should not be confused with the smaller Lake Amatitlán . Lake Atitlán is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and is one of Guatemala's most important national and international tourist attractions. German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt called it "the most beautiful lake in

1845-466: The waters". In the Nahuatl language, "atl" is the word for water, and "titlan" means between. The "tl" at the end of the word "atl" is dropped (because it is a grammatical suffix) and the words are combined to form "Atitlán". The lake has a maximum depth of about 340 metres (1,120 ft) and an average depth of 154 metres (505 ft). Its surface area is 130.1 km (50.2 sq mi). It

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1890-531: The west; Santiago Atitlán in the south; Cerro de Oro in the southeast; and San Lucas Tolimán in the east. Recent studies indicate that a ceremonial site named Samabaj was located on an island about 500 metres (1,600 ft) long in Lake Atitlán. The site was revered for its striking connection to the Popol Wuj of the K'iche' Mayan peoples. During the Guatemalan Civil War (1960 - 1996),

1935-400: The world have provided valuable scientific information on local ecosystems and ancient cultures. The Waw an Namus volcano is surrounded by an apron of dark tephra, which has a notable color contrast to the surrounding Sahara Desert . Africa's volcanoes have had an impact on the fossil record. Geographically a part of Africa, El Hierro is a shield volcano and the youngest and smallest of

1980-561: The world," and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it in his 1934 travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay : " Lake Como , it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing." The area around San Marcos has particularly tall cliffs abutting the lake and in recent years has become renowned for cliff diving. The area supports extensive coffee and avocado orchards and

2025-474: Was the assassination of Stanley Rother , a missionary from Oklahoma, in the church at Santiago Atitlán in 1981. In 1990, a spontaneous protest march to the army base on the edge of town was met by gunfire, resulting in the death of 11 unarmed civilians. International pressure forced the Guatemalan government to close the base and declare Santiago Atitlán a "military-free zone". The memorial commemorating

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