4.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 10 km from dormant Costa Rican volcano

October 25, 2011 – COSTA RICA – An earthquake registering 4.0 on the Richter scale shook the area of Sarapiqui, Vara Blanca and Venecia on Sunday. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI) – national volcano and seismology observatory – reported the epicentre 10 kilometers north of the Barva volcano, with a depth of 7.5 kilometers, caused by a local fault. In January 2009, a 6.2 earthquake in Vara Blanca, in between the Barva and Poás volcanoes claimed the lives of 13 people. –Inside Costa Rica

Barva Volcano, sometimes called “Las Tres Marias “is an andesitic shield complex in central Costa Rica 22 km north of San José, in the province of Heredia. It sits on the small agricultural community of Sacramento. Barva has a dozen different eruptive spots in the summit and some parasitic cones in the flanks of the mountain. Its three principal summits visible from the Central Valley give it the common local name of Las Tres Marías (The Three Marys). Four pyroclastic cones are constructed within the 2 x 3 km caldera at the central and NW part of the summit. The SW peak contains four cones, one of which has a crater lake. The volcano has not presented any eruptive activity since colonial times. Eruptions were reported around 1760 but later visits to the summit did not provide evidence of eruptions during historical time. –Wikipedia