The Birth and the Rise of the Volcano Paricutín

The Birth and the Rise of the Volcano Paricutín

The surrounding of Uruapan, a town in the Michoacán, one of the most dangerous federal states in Mexico, is much more interesting than the town itself. It is full of heaped volcanic hills, pine forests and avocado plantations, which grow very well in mild climate on fertile volcanic soil. There are also many corn fields. At one of them, located 35 km west of Uruapan, a farmer Dionysio Pulido was working with his wife and son on a hot day (February 20th, 1943). Suddenly the earth began to shake underneath. A smoke and ash started to puff out from the crack in the soil beneath his feet. Dionysio started fearlessly to fight the invisible enemy with his hoe and tried to seal the hole. Quickly, he realized his helplessness and with his family, he ran for help to its village of San Salvador Paricutín. When the villagers, armed with farmer’s tools and old muskets, came some hours later, the “molehill” in Dionysius’s corn field was more than one meter high! Within a next week it reached the height of five storey building. A new volcano, named Paricutín, was growing on and in one year time, it was already 336 m high. The lava flooded Dionysius’s village San Salvador Paricutin and also nearby village called San Juan Parangaricutiro. The villagers had managed to save their lives and movable property, but everything else included their humble houses and churches were buried with the lava and ash. The volcano Paricutín finally extinguished in 1954. In ten years of its activity, it had grown to 424 m above the level of corn fields and reached an altitude of 2,800 m!
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Articles:
Paricutin – ognjenik s koruznega polja (SL, 6.2014)

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