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Location and Tectonic Setting
Fogo is one of
the nine islands that make up Cape Verde. As
illustrated in the map below, Cape Verde is located off
the coast of the western side of Africa.
Cape Verde in relation to Africa.²
Some Basic Information:
Elevation: 2,839 m¹
Latitude: 14*57' N¹
Longitude: 24*21'W¹
Area: 476km2¹
Fogo is an active ocean island
volcano that reaches a maximum altitude of 2820m,
rising from a sea depth of -300m. It is the second
highest peak in the Atlantic Ocean (after Tenerife in
the Canaries).³³ The main caldera
located on Fogo is the Cha das Caldeiras which is 9
km-wide, flat, and rises 1700 meters above sea level.
This caldera was the result of a large lateral collapse
caldera.¹²
Fogo is a hot spot volcanic
island that is located on the Nazca plate. It is
the youngest and most active island of the nine Cape
Verde islands. Within the Cape Verde Islands the
islands more to the West tend to be the younger islands,
which is characteristic of a hot spot (similar to the
Hawaiian islands).¹³
Map of Cape Verde.³
"Fogo consists of a single
volcano, so the island is nearly round and about 25
kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. The large summit
caldera (about 10 kilometers in the north-south
direction and 7 kilometers in the east-west direction)
is not located in the center of the island, but rather
towards its northeastern corner. The caldera is bounded
by steep near-vertical fault scarps on the north, west,
and south sides but is breached to the east where lava
can flow to the coast. The current
north-northeast-trending eruptive fissures are located
along the western flank of a large cone named Pico,
which formed inside the caldera between about 1500 and
1760."¹³
View of the island of Fogo from above.²²
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