Colima's violent volcanic eruption captured on film

Mexico's Colima volcano is playing to the camera. Known locally as the or Volcano of Fire, Colima's recent activity is being captured on video and time-lapse photography as well as during monitoring flights around the area.

The latest blast, featured in this BBC clip, shows a huge ash column climbing over a mile into the sky. Blankets of ash covered villages as much as 15 miles away, but there was no structural damage.

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One of the most dangerous volcanoes in the region

Colima is one of the most active and potentially dangerous volcanoes in Central America. Located on Mexico's west coast in the Mexican Volcanic Belt, the volcano has been a magnet for geologists and volcanologists because of its regular eruptions.

Records dating back to the sixteenth century show that there have been more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including a violent explosion in 1919 and several major events in the late 1990s.

After large eruptions in 2013 and 2014, Webcams De Mexico set up cameras to capture the action. Concentrated scientific studies of Colima's activity have been ongoing for over 20 years.

© YouTube/webcamsdemexico

A history of violence

The Colima volcanic complex is made up of two main systems - Nevado de Colima to the north and the smaller Volcán de Colima to the south.

Volcán de Colima is a relatively young stratovolcano with a caldera more than two miles wide. There have been several major slope breaches and failures over the years, often accompanied by large debris avalanches. These breaches created thick layers of debris-avalanche deposits on the slopes of the volcanic complex.

Colima's ancient past is even scarier. Back in the late Pleistocene era, there was a huge landslide at the site. Millions of tons of debris travelled up to 80 miles, far enough to reach the Pacific Ocean. A vast area was covered in landslide deposits.

With around 300,000 people living within 25 miles of the volcano, Colima remains a constant danger to the local population. There have been frequent temporary evacuations of nearby villagers in recent years due to threatening volcanic activity.

The official line is that the volcano presents little risk to the population, but that won't be much consolation to those living beneath the fiery mountain.

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