Worrying times ahead

The eruption was nothing short of cataclysmic the last time that the El Chichón volcano in Mexico blew up.

This is because the summit’s dome was destroyed by high-sulfur eruptions and anhydrite-rich magma, and this resulted in lava flows and surges that stretched a radius of eight kilometres.

In 1982, with three eruptions in total, El Chichón, also known as Chichonal, caused thousands of deaths in a little over a week and burned down villages.

However, in the 6th century it was far more devastating, as according to a research paper in 2017, the Mexican volcano may have contributed to the downfall of the Mayan people, driving them into a century-long “dark age”, before, ultimately, their downfall.

Volcanologists this year, who are charged with monitoring the deadly stratovolcano, have started to notice changes occurring beneath the earth and within the volcano itself.

All these signs pointing to something worrying and menacing: the return of El Chichón and the devastation it may cause.

Changes have been occurring within the volcano for some time, as Dr Mariana Patricia Jácome Paz, who studied El Chichón from 2021 to 2025, told her audience in a recent lecture that changes are occurring just beneath the earth’s crust.

These changes, according to Paz, indicate El Chichón may be stirring to wake, and that it is is shifting away from its sleepy dormant state towards a period of increased activity.

However, there is no cause for public alarm yet, according to experts, as dormant volcanoes are rarely truly inactive, even if they have been suspiciously quiet for nearly half a century.