The Puebla–Morelos earthquake (19 September 2017) was the most damaging event in central Mexico since 1985. The seismic shaking produced hundreds of shallow landslides on the slopes of Popocatépetl Volcano. The larger landslides transformed into large debris flows that travelled for kilometers. We describe this exceptional mass wasting cascade and its predisposing factors, which have important implications for both the evolution of the volcanic edifice and hazard assessment.

Petrophysical and mechanical rock properties are essential for reservoir characterization of the deep subsurface and are commonly used for the population of numerical models or the interpretation of geophysical data. The database presented here aims at providing easily accessible information on rock properties and chemical analyses complemented by extensive metadata (location, stratigraphy, petrography) covering volcanic, sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks from Jurassic to Holocene age.

In this work we provide a 2D finite-element modelling of the stress field conditions around the Fuego de Colima volcano (Mexico) in order to test the response of the commercial Linear Static Analysis software to increasingly different geological constraints. Results suggest that an appropriate set of geological and geophysical data improves the mesh generation procedures and the degree of accuracy of numerical outputs, aimed at more reliable physics-based representations of the natural system.

We identify several problems of the Urbani et al. (2020) study, showing that their model does not conform to the geological constraints. These problems, which largely undermine their conclusions, are poor field data, inconsistencies between the caldera complex and the modelling, lack of any substantial validation, and contradictions with the reference stratigraphy. The Urbani et al. (2020) analysis fails identify the caldera deformation source and the geothermal field heat source.