Increased summit thermal activity, small ash eruption in January 1986
[On 29 November 1987, an avalanche in the Estero del Parraguirre, a stream in a small valley 20 km NW of Tupungatito, generated a mudflow that killed 41 people and caused major damage along the valley of the Río Colorado, which pases through Chile's capital, Santiago. Initial reports suggested a possible linkage with increased activity at Tupungatito, a linkage that was disputed by other geologists. The material below primarily discusses Tupungatito's activity with that volcano; reports focusing on the debris flow can be found in a separate Estero de Parraguirre file.]
"Reactivation of one of the NW craters with a weak emission of black ash occurred 20 January 1986 at 1030 (figure 1). The activity was observed by the pilot of a Chilean Air Force C-130 and reported directly by radio-telephone to the author. The volcano had been under observation since the last pyroclastic eruption occurred 10 January 1980. After the M 7.8 earthquake that affected the Santiago region on 3 March 1985, vertical aerial photographic coverage was carried out at a scale of 1:20,000 on 25 March 1985. No increased activity was observed within the caldera, which has a diameter of ~5 km and is covered with ice and snow. Glaciers descend from it toward the W. The group of cones and craters with historic activity, in the extreme NW of the caldera, have only a thin covering of snow. Observations on 24 November 1987 show ice partially covered by 20 January 1986 ash, and intense solfataric activity in the same crater (figure 1).
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Figure 1. Sketch map by O. González-Ferrán of the summit area of Tupungatito, labeling craters active in recent eruptions and the location of vigorous solfataric activity on 24 November 1987. |
"On 4 December, new aerial photographic coverage of the Tupungatito volcanic region was taken by the Air Force Aerophotogrammetric Service at the request of the author and the National Emergency Office.
Analysis of the airphotos revealed a notable increase in snowmelt inside Tupungatito's active craters and an important increase in fumarolic activity without showing a direct relation with the 29 November lahar.
"The volcano remains under observation. If it produced an eruptive reactivation of some magnitude it could: affect the glacier covering the caldera; cause lahars larger than the one that occurred 29 November; and seriously damage the S sector of Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina."
Information Contacts: O. González-Ferrán, Univ de Chile.
The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Tupungatito.
Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.
Ash eruption and seismicity
A series of subterranean noises at 0623 on 10 January was followed by an explosion that ejected a 1,500-m-high cloud of gas and ash from Tupungatito's SW crater. The next day, Oscar González-Ferrán and Sergio Barrientos flew over the volcano, observing that ash covered the snow NE of the vent and that the eruption was continuing, but with decreased intensity.
The Seismologic Service of the Geophysics Department, University of Chile, recorded considerable seismic activity near Tupungatito. The principal earthquake, at 1851 on 14 January, was a shallow event with an epicenter calculated at 33.2°S, 69°W, 78 km NE of the volcano. It was felt at intensity 3 in Santiago, about 150 km from the calculated epicenter. In the next 2 hours, 17 similar events were recorded, of which three were located with the same epicenter. Between 2100 on 14 January and 0100 on 16 January, 13 more local events were recorded, one of which was fairly large. As of 18 January, both seismic and eruptive activity had diminished. Tupungatito's last eruption, in 1964, consisted of explosions from the central crater.
Information Contacts: O. González-Ferrán, Univ. de Chile, Santiago.
Increased summit thermal activity, small ash eruption in January 1986
[On 29 November 1987, an avalanche in the Estero del Parraguirre, a stream in a small valley 20 km NW of Tupungatito, generated a mudflow that killed 41 people and caused major damage along the valley of the Río Colorado, which pases through Chile's capital, Santiago. Initial reports suggested a possible linkage with increased activity at Tupungatito, a linkage that was disputed by other geologists. The material below primarily discusses Tupungatito's activity with that volcano; reports focusing on the debris flow can be found in a separate Estero de Parraguirre file.]
"Reactivation of one of the NW craters with a weak emission of black ash occurred 20 January 1986 at 1030 (figure 1). The activity was observed by the pilot of a Chilean Air Force C-130 and reported directly by radio-telephone to the author. The volcano had been under observation since the last pyroclastic eruption occurred 10 January 1980. After the M 7.8 earthquake that affected the Santiago region on 3 March 1985, vertical aerial photographic coverage was carried out at a scale of 1:20,000 on 25 March 1985. No increased activity was observed within the caldera, which has a diameter of ~5 km and is covered with ice and snow. Glaciers descend from it toward the W. The group of cones and craters with historic activity, in the extreme NW of the caldera, have only a thin covering of snow. Observations on 24 November 1987 show ice partially covered by 20 January 1986 ash, and intense solfataric activity in the same crater (figure 1).
![]() |
Figure 1. Sketch map by O. González-Ferrán of the summit area of Tupungatito, labeling craters active in recent eruptions and the location of vigorous solfataric activity on 24 November 1987. |
"On 4 December, new aerial photographic coverage of the Tupungatito volcanic region was taken by the Air Force Aerophotogrammetric Service at the request of the author and the National Emergency Office.
Analysis of the airphotos revealed a notable increase in snowmelt inside Tupungatito's active craters and an important increase in fumarolic activity without showing a direct relation with the 29 November lahar.
"The volcano remains under observation. If it produced an eruptive reactivation of some magnitude it could: affect the glacier covering the caldera; cause lahars larger than the one that occurred 29 November; and seriously damage the S sector of Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina."
Information Contacts: O. González-Ferrán, Univ de Chile.
This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.
Synonyms |
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Bravard | ||||
Cones |
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Feature Name | Feature Type | Elevation | Latitude | Longitude |
Sin Nombre, Nevado | Stratovolcano | 6000 m |
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There is data available for 20 Holocene eruptive periods.
Start Date | Stop Date | Eruption Certainty | VEI | Evidence | Activity Area or Unit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 Nov 28 | 1987 Nov 30 | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1986 Jan 20 | 1986 Jan 20 | Confirmed | 1 | Historical Observations | NW craters |
1980 Jan 10 | 1980 Jan 11 | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | SW crater |
1968 Jul 2 ± 182 days | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1964 Aug 3 | 1964 Sep 19 (in or after) | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1961 May 5 ± 4 days | 1961 Aug 16 (in or after) ± 15 days | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1960 Jul 15 ± 5 days | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1959 Oct 16 | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1959 Mar 26 ± 5 days | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1958 Jan 16 ± 15 days | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1946 | 1947 | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1925 | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1907 Feb 15 | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1901 Apr | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1897 Jan | 1897 Apr 12 (in or after) | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
1889 | 1890 | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
[ 1881 ] | [ Unknown ] | Uncertain | |||
1861 | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations | |
[ 1835 ] | [ Unknown ] | Uncertain | 2 | ||
1829 | Unknown | Confirmed | 2 | Historical Observations |
There is no Deformation History data available for Tupungatito.
There is no Emissions History data available for Tupungatito.
The maps shown below have been scanned from the GVP map archives and include the volcano on this page. Clicking on the small images will load the full 300 dpi map. Very small-scale maps (such as world maps) are not included. The maps database originated over 30 years ago, but was only recently updated and connected to our main database. We welcome users to tell us if they see incorrect information or other problems with the maps; please use the Contact GVP link at the bottom of the page to send us email.
Title: Argentina, Chile Publisher: DMA Aerospace Center Country: S America Year: 1978 Series: ONC Map Type: Navigation Scale: 1:1,000,000 |
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There are no samples for Tupungatito in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.
DECADE Data | The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the MAGA Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere. |
WOVOdat
Single Volcano View Temporal Evolution of Unrest Side by Side Volcanoes |
WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore. |
Large Eruptions of Tupungatito | Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA). |
MIROVA | Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity. |
MODVOLC Thermal Alerts | Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales. |
EarthChem | EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS). |