Mount Parícutin – A Volcano is Born
🌋 Mount Parícutin – A Volcano is Born
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Location: Michoacán, Mexico
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Eruption began: February 20, 1943
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Eruption ended: 1952
🧑🌾 How it started:
Mount Parícutin literally appeared out of nowhere in a cornfield owned by a farmer named Dionisio Pulido. One day, he noticed the ground cracking and steaming. Within hours, a small volcanic cone began to rise. By the next day, it was already several meters tall.
🔥 What happened next:
Over the next 9 years, the volcano erupted continuously, spewing ash, lava, and gases. The cone eventually grew to about 424 meters (1,391 feet) above the original ground level.
🏚️ Impact:
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Lava flows buried two villages: Parícutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro. Only the church tower of San Juan still pokes out of the lava today — it’s a popular site for tourists and a powerful reminder of nature's force.
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The volcano stopped erupting in 1952, but the landform it created — the volcanic cone — remains as a permanent part of the landscape.
🌍 Why it’s important:
Mount Parícutin is one of the few volcanoes in history that humans have witnessed from birth to dormancy. Scientists were able to study every stage of a volcano’s life cycle, making it a landmark event in geology.
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