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When we think of volcanoes, we always imagine huge landforms spewing lava and hot rocks all over the place while thick clouds of ash billow from the crater. But not all volcanoes are like that. There are many different types of volcanoes all around the world. Many of these volcanoes are not even on land and hidden deep in our oceans. Some volcanoes are gentle in erupting and there are even those that don’t erupt at all. And some volcanoes reach thousands and thousands of feet high, while others are so dwarfed that you wouldn’t think they are dangerous. Then what is the smallest volcano in the world?
There is quite some debate on what the world’s smallest volcano is. One of the contenders is the Cuexcomate volcano, located in the suburbs of Puebla, Mexico. This volcano is extremely small that you wouldn’t think it is a volcano. The Cuexcomate volcano is just roughly as tall as a four-storey building. The volcano is only 13 meters tall. Its base diameter is only 23 meters and its crater’s diameter is only 8 meters.
Cuexcomate volcano was formed in 1664. It sprang out as an offshoot parasitic cone when a much bigger volcano, Popocatépetl, erupted. The volcano resembles a bowl or a jar. It is a popular tourist spot in Puebla with its spiral staircase that run inside of the volcano. And the name, Cuexcomate, is also very apt. It came from the Nahuatl word, cuexcomac, meaning bowl or a place to keep things.
The Cuexcomate volcano is indeed a tiny volcano. It is the smallest volcano in the world, as well as the smallest inactive volcano in the entire world. Yes, it is inactive, meaning it has no chances of erupting anytime soon, if not at all. The only chance for Cuexcomate to erupt would be if the larger Popocatépetl will erupt so violently.
There is also another volcano that is very small compared to other volcanoes but quite large compared to the Cuexcomate. The Taal volcano, located in the Philippines, stands at about 400 meters high and is the smallest active volcano in the world. Some consider it as the smallest volcano because Cuexcomate is inactive and they don’t think of it as a volcano. But either way, Taal is just as intriguing as Cuexcomate.
Taal volcano used to be much larger than it is now but it collapsed after one huge eruption. A lake was also formed around the volcano and it is now known as “a crater within an island within a lake”. It has been a long time since Taal last exploded but it remains to be highly active and so, very dangerous. Clearly, for volcanoes, size does not matter.
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