Pacaya Location: 14.381° N, 90.601° W Elavation: 2.552 m Eruptions from Pacaya, one of Guatemala's most active volcanoes, are  frequently visible from  Guatemala City, the nation's  capital. Pacaya is a complex  basaltic volcano constructed  just outside the southern  topographic rim of the 14 x  16 km Pleistocene Amatitlán  caldera. A cluster of dacitic  lava domes occupies the  southern caldera floor. The  post-caldera Pacaya massif  includes the Cerro Grande  lava dome and a younger  volcano to the SW. Collapse of Pacaya volcano about 1100 years ago  produced a debris-avalanche deposit that extends 25 km onto the Pacific  coastal plain and left an arcuate somma rim inside which the modern Pacaya  volcano (MacKenney cone) grew. A subsidiary crater, Cerro Chino, was  constructed on the NW somma rim and was last active in the 19th century.  During the past several decades, activity at Pacaya has consisted of frequent  strombolian eruptions with intermittent lava flow extrusion that has partially  filled in the caldera moat and armored the flanks of MacKenney cone,  punctuated by occasional larger explosive eruptions that partially destroy the  summit of the cone.  (Global Volcanism Program)  HOME click on pictures to enlarge