THE BIRTH OF PARICUTIN:? 
By JENARO GONZALEZ R. 
Comité Directivo para la Investigacion de los Recursos Minerales de Meaico, 
Instituto de Geologia 
and 
WILLIAM F’. FosHAG 
Curator of Mineralogy and Petrology, U. S. National Museum 
[With 10 plates] 
INTRODUCTION 
Many thousands of volcanoes, old and young, are scattered over the 
earth’s surface. Some that are very old have been reduced to traces 
by erosion, others are still perfectly preserved in their essential form, 
although cold and inactive. About 500 volcanoes are known to have 
been active within historical times, although the number of volcanoes 
in eruption at one time is never large. With very few exceptions the 
active volcanoes are old and well-established features, antedating the 
history of man by many years, some having their beginnings a million 
or more years ago. 
In all recorded history there have been but six instances reported 
of a new volcano being born, that is, originating at a spot with no 
evidence of previous volcanic outbursts. To these six, we can now 
add a seventh—Paricutin Volcano—that arose in a cornfield in 
Mexico on February 20, 1943. The only previously recorded instance 
in which the outbreak of a new volcano was actually observed is that 
of Chinyero, Tenerife, which opened up about 100 meters from a 
farmer and his son. 
In the case of Paricutin Volcano, four persons actually saw its 
beginning at very close hand, and their observations furnish the first 
adequate account of this rare phenomenon. Others visited the spot 
after the first outbreak, and scientists were soon on hand to submit 
it to detailed study. Since there are so many apocryphal accounts 
of what took place during the first moments of Paricutin Volcano, 
we will quote, as accurately as possible, the narration of events as 
1 The two authors first saw the new voleano about 1 month after its birth. Thereafter 
they kept it under observation for a period of nearly 3 years. 
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