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El Salvador land of giants
Monday, 09 November 2009 14:48    E-mail

This tiny "Land of Volcanoes" contains more "Ring of Fire" volcanoes than any other Central American country. Two volcanic-formed mountain ranges run roughly northwest to southeast across northern and southern El Salvador, with a broad high plateau between them. The northern Sierra Madre range is a continuous chain, with elevations from 1,580 to 2,200 meters (5,200 to 7,210 feet). The southern coastal range is a discontinuous chain composed of more than twenty volcanoes in five clusters. Near the western end is the Santa Ana Volcano, the highest volcano in the country at 2,381 meters (7,812 feet). Also at the western end is the Izalco Volcano (1,950 meters/6,396 feet), known as "Light-house of the Pacific," which last erupted in 1966, making it El Salvador's most recently active volcano. Other volcanoes in the chain are the San Salvador Volcano northwest of the city of San Salvador, San Vicente Volcano (2,180 meters/7,155 feet) south of the city of San Vicente, and the San Miguel Volcano (2,120 meters/6,957 feet) southwest of the city of San Miguel.