The description of the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1845 by Joaquin Acosta.

Abstract

The recent eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, with the destruction of the town of Armero, highlighted the enormous value of a document by Joaquín Acosta published in 1846 in Paris, about a similar eruption of the same volcano on February 19, 1845. If Acosta's document had been sufficiently analyzed, the consequences of the eruption of November 13, 1985 might have been different. Unfortunately, although Acosta's work is well known and noted in the Colombian geological literature, it was not considered reliable because it was probably believed to be an exaggerated interpretation of the phenomenon, made by an amateur scientist of the last century. How poorly Acosta is known. And yet the history of science recognizes him as one of the most important pioneers of Colombian geology (Espinosa 1984). It seems to us that at the present time it is necessary to dilute Acosta's description in a Spanish version so that it is accessible to the general public, together with the original version published in French by the Academy of Sciences of Paris, for comparison purposes. Incidentally, the organ of publication is already an indication of the validity of the work, and should have been taken into account in the analysis of the document. It seems appropriate, moreover, to precede it with some brief biographical notes on the geologist Joaquín Acosta.