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Report on Lascar (Chile) — January 2004


Lascar

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 29, no. 1 (January 2004)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman.

Lascar (Chile) On 9 December 2003 fine ash discharged from fumaroles

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2004. Report on Lascar (Chile) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 29:1. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN200401-355100



Lascar

Chile

23.37°S, 67.73°W; summit elev. 5592 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


A report discussing Lascar from the Chilean Oficina Nacional de Emergencia, Ministerio del Interiorone (ONEMI) noted that on 9 December 2003 small amounts of fine ash discharged from fumaroles at Lascar. The following day activity was at normal levels, with only gas and steam emitted. On the morning of 10 December observers noted a 400-m-high, gray-colored, fumarolic plume. No increased seismicity was recorded. Eruptions were previously noted at Lascar during October 2002. At that time the volcano was the subject of several months of field studies (BGVN 28:03).

Geological Summary. Láscar is the most active volcano of the northern Chilean Andes. The andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcano contains six overlapping summit craters. Prominent lava flows descend its NW flanks. An older, higher stratovolcano 5 km E, Volcán Aguas Calientes, displays a well-developed summit crater and a probable Holocene lava flow near its summit (de Silva and Francis, 1991). Láscar consists of two major edifices; activity began at the eastern volcano and then shifted to the western cone. The largest eruption took place about 26,500 years ago, and following the eruption of the Tumbres scoria flow about 9000 years ago, activity shifted back to the eastern edifice, where three overlapping craters were formed. Frequent small-to-moderate explosive eruptions have been recorded since the mid-19th century, along with periodic larger eruptions that produced ashfall hundreds of kilometers away. The largest historical eruption took place in 1993, producing pyroclastic flows to 8.5 km NW of the summit and ashfall in Buenos Aires.

Information Contacts: National Office for Emergencies (Oficina Nacional de Emergencia, "ONEMI"), Ministry of the Interior, Beaucheff 1637, Santiago, Chile (URL: http://www.onemi.cl/).