Zapatera

About Zapatera

Zapatera is a small low shield volcano that forms a 7 x 10 km wide island on the western side of Lake Nicaragua just offshore from Mombacho volcano. The island contains some of the most significant archaeological sites in Nicaragua. The small, roughly circular 2-km-wide El Llano caldera is located near the center of the island, which is cut by a series of NE-trending faults that continue into Lake Nicaragua. The conical 305-m-high Cerro El Llano lava dome occupies the center of the caldera, and other lava domes are found on the southern and NE flanks. Numerous low-rimmed tuff rings and maars, of which Laguna de Zapatera on the NW flank is the best-preserved, are found on the northern and western sides of the densely forested 629-m-high island and across a narrow strait on the adjacent mainland.