Antigua Guatemala
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay
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The port of Puerto Quetzal.
Below: Scenes on the way to
Antigua Guatemala. |
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Volcanoes!
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Volcan de Agua (3762 m, 12,339 feet), so called because it released lots of
mudflows in colonial days. |
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Volcan de Fuego (3763 m 12,343 feet) on the left and Volcan Acatenango (3976
m, 13,041 feet ) to its right and behind it. Yes, it can snow up
there. |
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Below: The light strips are mudflow scars. |
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Below: Lahar deposits. |
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| Right: Volcan de Agua |
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Left: Acatenango.
Below: Volcan de Fuego living up to its
name. |
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Nice likeness. |
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The Cathedral
Plaza Mayor
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Below: Palacio de los Capitanes Generales. |
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Street Scenes
Jade Factory
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Guatemala jade is the sodium aluminum pyroxene jadeite
NaAlSi2O6. Sodium is the most
predictable major element in rocks, and in most rocks it occurs in
the feldspar albite (NaAlSi3O8). Under high pressure it breaks down. Albite --> Jadeite + Quartz (NaAlSi3O8 --> NaAlSi2O6 + SiO2). Jadeite is a typical
subduction zone mineral and Central America is one big long
subduction zone.
The bright green color is probably due to
chromium impurities. |
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Iglesia de la Concepcion
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Between earthquakes and volcanoes, geology has not been kind to
Antigua Guatemala's old buildings. |
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El Carmen
Iglesia de la Merced
Religious Floats
Arco de Santa Catalina
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Your Antigua Guatemala money shot: Acatenango framed by the Arco de Santa
Catalina. |
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Last chance to sell some souvenirs. |
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Left: Volcan de Agua
Below: small cemetery |
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Above: Repairing a bridge taken out by the lahar.
Left:
Now there's something you don't see every day: a road sign saying
"Volcan en Erupcion" (Volcano erupting).
Below: Lahar
deposits. |
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Twilight at Puerto Quetzal. |
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Created 22 June 2007, Last Update
