Catalog record
These fields are copied from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program Holocene volcano snapshot stored on this site. The file was fetched 2026-09-19T12:21:44Z. It is a location catalog, not a live alert.
- Catalog name
- Popocatepetl
- GVP number
- 341090
- Country
- Mexico
- Type
- Stratovolcano(es)
- Elevation
- 5,393 m
- Region
- Middle America-Caribbean Volcanic Regions
- Subregion
- Trans-Mexican Volcanic Arc
- Tectonic setting
- Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
- Last-eruption year
- 2026
- Evidence code
- Eruption Observed
- Latitude, longitude
- 19.023, -98.622
Elevation rank in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Arc in this snapshot: 2 of 17. Rank is by the listed elevation only. It is not a hazard ranking.
How to read the last-eruption year
The year is a catalog field. A recent year means the snapshot recorded activity in that year. It is not an alert level, a size, or a statement about what happens next. Evidence codes in this file include “Eruption Observed” and “Eruption Dated.” Those are Smithsonian categories for how the eruption year was established, not a forecast flag.
Setting
The catalog name is Popocatepetl, elevation 5,393 m, type “Stratovolcano(es),” last-eruption year 2026. In the same subregion Pico de Orizaba is listed higher, at 5,564 m. Popocatépetl is second by elevation in that group in this file. Colima, also in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Arc, is listed at 3,850 m with a last-eruption year of 2019.
The coordinates fall in both the Mexico Pacific / Middle America Trench rectangle and the Central America / Caribbean Pacific rectangle, because those lat/lon boxes overlap. Membership in two boxes does not mean two different tectonic settings. The catalog code is a single one: subduction under continental crust.
Inside these documented rectangles: Central America / Caribbean Pacific; Mexico Pacific / Middle America Trench. The rectangles are documented on the About page. They are a lat/lon belt, not an official plate polygon.
Other volcanoes in this subregion
Highest listed elevations in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Arc in this snapshot, excluding this volcano when it is already first:
- Orizaba, Pico de, 5,564 m, last-eruption year 1846.
- Iztaccihuatl, 5,230 m, last-eruption year not listed.
- Toluca, Nevado de, 4,680 m, last-eruption year 1350 BCE.
Distance to published great-earthquake epicenters
The distances below use this volcano’s catalog coordinates and epicenters from the USGS list of the 20 largest earthquakes since 1900. They are spherical distances to points, not distances to a fault trace, and not a hazard score.
- 1906 M8.8 Ecuador–Colombia (1906-01-31 15:36 UTC) — 2,905 km from the catalog point.
- 2001 M8.4 Arequipa, Peru (2001-06-23 20:33 UTC) — 4,782 km from the catalog point.
- 1964 M9.2 Great Alaska earthquake (1964-03-28 03:36 UTC) — 6,002 km from the catalog point.
You can repeat the measurement for any coordinates on the distance to fault references tool.
What this page will not tell you
It will not tell you the next eruption time, the next earthquake on the neighboring trench, or an evacuation route. For U.S. volcano notices, use the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. For earthquakes, use the USGS event pages linked from Live Quakes. This site’s volcano map only draws the Holocene catalog.