This is a photograph of water that is flowing out from within one of the thick pyroclastic flows of El Chichon. This water picks up a lot of dissolved minerals as it passes through the pyroclastic flow, and that is why it is orange. The local people do not like to use it for their plants or livestock. The green scalebar is 1 meter high.
This is a photograph of two ash layers from prehistoric El Chichon eruptions. One of these is gray and the other is kind of pink. A layer of soil has developed on top of the upper ash. Soil develops very quickly near El Chichon because this is a warm humid part of Mexico. The marks on the tape measure are 1 cm.
This photo shows a piece of a log that was torn out of the ground and included in one of the pyroclastic flows from the 1982 El Chichon eruption. What does this log tell you about the temperature of the pyroclastic flow when it erupted? The scraper is about 25 cm long.
These are some of the very thick pyroclastic flow deposits from the 1982 eruptions. This straight-walled gully has walls almost 20 m deep cut entirely through the 1982 deposits and it still hasn't reached the previous surface! When you are walking up the slopes of the volcano you start out on the side of the gully you want to end up on because (as you can imagine) crossing these things is not easy.
Go here for more information on El Chichon.
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