Lake Ilopango

Lake Ilopango is a crater lake which fills a scenic 8 by 11 km (72 km² or 28 sq mi) volcanic caldera in central El Salvador, on the borders of the San Salvador, La Paz, and Cuscatlán departments. The caldera, which contains the second largest lake in the country and is immediately east of the capital city, San Salvador, has a scalloped 100 m (330 ft) to 500 m (1,600 ft) high rim. Any surplus drains via the Jiboa River to the Pacific Ocean. The lake is known for being a possible source for the extreme weather events of 535–536. The military airbase, Ilopango International Airport, has annual airshows where international pilots from all over the world fly over San Salvador City and Ilopango lake.

Eruptive history

Four major dacitic - rhyolitic eruptions occurred during the late Pleistocene and Holocene, producing pyroclastic flows and tephra that blanketed much of the country.

The caldera collapsed most recently sometime between 410 and 535 AD (based on radiocarbon dating of plant life directly related to the eruption), which produced widespread pyroclastic flows and devastated Mayan cities. The eruption produced about 25 km³ (6.0 cu mi) of tephra (20 times as much as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens), thus rating a 6 on the (VEI) Volcanic Explosivity Index. The "ash-cloud fallout [..] blanketed an area of at least 10,000 square kilometres waist-deep in pumice and ash", which would have stopped all agricultural endeavor in the area for decades.

Ilopango

Ilopango is a town in the San Salvador department of El Salvador. It is a few miles east of the nation's capital, San Salvador. It is located near Lake Ilopango, the country's largest lake at 72 square kilometers.

Overview

El Salvador's second airport is in Ilopango. It is currently used for charter flights and by the Salvadoran military but plans are underway to increase its use as tourism and travel in El Salvador increase and Comalapa International Airport cannot handle the future influx alone. The Civil Aviation Authority has its headquarters on the airport property, in Ilopango.

References

External links

Media related to Ilopango at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 13°42′N 89°07′W / 13.700°N 89.117°W / 13.700; -89.117

El Salvador

Coordinates: 13°50′N 88°55′W / 13.833°N 88.917°W / 13.833; -88.917

El Salvador (ⁱ/ɛl ˈsælvədɔːr/; Spanish: [el salβaˈðor]), officially the Republic of El Salvador (Spanish: República de El Salvador, literally "Republic of The Savior"), is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. As of 2015, El Salvador had a population of approximately 6.38 million, making it the most densely populated country in the region. Its population consists largely of Mestizos of European and Indigenous American descent.

El Salvador was for centuries inhabited by several Mesoamerican nations, especially the Cuzcatlecs, as well as the Lenca and Maya. In the early 16th century, the Spanish Empire conquered the territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1821, the country achieved independence from Spain as part of the First Mexican Empire, only to further secede as part of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823. Upon the republic's dissolution in 1841, El Salvador became sovereign until forming a short-lived union with Honduras and Nicaragua called the Greater Republic of Central America, which lasted from 1895 to 1898.