Geology in Guatemala

Oct 3

Geologist Sam Bonis came to the MPC today. He gave us a class about Guatemalan geology, focusing on Lake Atitlan’s geology. I learned that Lake Atitlan used to be a Caldera (a super volcano y National Geographic’s Words) and that about 84,000 years ago it exploded and that is why the lake is shaped the way it is. He said that ash and rock from this explosion has been traced all the way to Florida, Panama and Columbia. I learned that out of Atitlan’s 3 volcanoes (Atitlan, Toliman and San Pedro) only Atitlan is active.

He mentioned that Guatemala was one of the best places to study geology because it has so many different types of terrains, it has active volcanoes accessible to public and it is in between 3 different tectonic plates. So I guess we should consider ourselves lucky to live in such a wonderful and varied place.