Irazú is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. Its name is believed to be a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano. Irazú has erupted frequently in historical times - at least 23 times since its first well-recorded eruption in 1723. Its most recent eruption began in 1963 and continued until 1965. It began on the day US President John F. Kennedy began a state visit to Costa Rica, and showered the capital San José and much of the central highlands of Costa Rica with ash.

Since the 1963-5 eruption, the volcano has been dormant, although frequent earthquake swarms show that magma is still moving about beneath the volcano. In 1994 a small phreatic eruption occurred, caused by heavy rains destabilising part of the volcano's flank, resulting in rapid decompression of a shallow hydrothermal system.

The volcano's summit has several craters, one of which contains a green crater lake of variable depth. It is the highest active volcano in Costa Rica. It is easily visited from San José, with a road leading right up to the summit craters and a daily bus service to the top. It is thus a popular tourist spot.

From the top it is claimed to be possible to see both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on a clear day; however, such clear days are very rare indeed, and it is typical for the volcano's summit to be covered in cloud for much of the time.

External links

• Irazú images and information from VolcanoWorld (http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/south_america/costa_rica/irazu.html)
• Bob Jensen's Volcanoes Of The World (http://users.bendnet.com/bjensen/volcano/centralamerica/costarica-irazu.html)
• Global Volcanism Program information (http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1405-06=)