[citation needed] The field includes Siete Luminarias, a group of seven maars in and around Valle de Santiago in Guanajuato.

Other volcanoes in the field include Alberca de los Espinos in Michoacán and Cerro Culiacán in Guanajuato.

[1] The cinder cones are randomly arranged and occur at low altitudes, usually, on alluvial plains or on the flanks of eroded shield volcanoes.

The Parícutin volcano began as a fissure in a cornfield owned by a Purépecha farmer, Dionisio Pulido, on February 20, 1943.

Pulido, his wife, and their son all witnessed the initial eruption of ash and stones first-hand as they ploughed the field.

El Parícutin grew quickly, reaching five stories tall in just a week, and it could be seen from afar in a month.

The nearby villages of Paricutín (after which the volcano was named) and San Juan Parangaricutiro were both buried in lava and ash.

Three people died as a result of lightning strikes caused by the eruptions, but no deaths were attributed to the lava or asphyxiation.