Country:

México

Subregion Name:

México

Volcano Type:

Stratovolcano

Volcano Status:

Holocene

Last Eruption:

Unknown

Summit Elevation:

5230 m

Latitude:

19.179°N

Longitude:

98.642°W

Iztaccíhuatl, the "Woman in White," presents the profile of a sleeping woman as seen from the Valley of Mexico. A series of overlapping cones constructed along a NNW-SSE line to the south of the Pleistocene Llano Grande caldera forms the summit ridge of the massive 450 cu km volcano. Andesitic and dacitic Pleistocene and Recent volcanism has taken place from vents at or near the summit of Volcán Iztaccíhuatl. Valley headwalls near the summit vent (El Pecho) are draped with flows and tuff beds post-dating an 11,000 years before present glaciation. The youngest vents are located at the summit and a depression at 5100 m along the summit ridge midway between El Pecho and Los Pies (White 1986). Nixon (1989) considered all summit lavas to be Pleistocene in age, but noted a postglacial dacitic vent on the south flank of Iztaccíhuatl, north of the saddle between it and Popocatépetl.