Central America has numerous, fascinating volcanoes of various types. Many are currentlyactive? while others are not. Of the active volcanoes some are potentially hazardous for nearby towns. Others attract visitors as if they were some kind of fantastic side-show. This paper will describe some of the main volcanoes in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
             There are quite a few volcanoes in the GUATEMALA area. The main volcanoes form an arc from Guatemala City to Quezaltenango. One of the volcanoes is Agua, with an elevation of 12,333 feet, or 3.76 miles. Its location is: 13.5N, 90.7W. Agua poses no threat to nearby towns because it has not erupted since there was written history of the area. That kind of volcano is called a Holocene stratovolcano.
             Nearby Acatenango, however, has erupted several times, twice during 1924-1927 and 1972. Back in 1981 geologists who visited the volcano thought that they smelled sulpher but didn't see any fumaroles. It is also one of the tallest stratovolcanoes in Central America. Its location is: 14.5N, 90.9W while its elevation is 13,041 feet, or 3,976 miles.
             Pacaya, also in Guatemala, is a really complicated, older stratovolcano with domes, flows, and tephra formed during the last 23,000 years. It is in a relatively remote location so not all of its history is known, but historians say it has erupted at least 23 times since 1565. It was "in repose," which means that it didn't erupt, between 1860 and 1961. There was a big eruption in 1961 which began without warning and lasted for a full month. It has been erupting nearly continuously since 1965. What is so fascinating about it is that Strombolian eruptions toss incandescent bombs hundreds of meters up into the air. Each produces small aa flows, which are the kind that flow through channels. Its location is: 14.38N, 90.60W; Pacaya's elevation is 8,371 feet, or 2,552 meters.
             Fuego, with its ...