Report on Chaiten (Chile) — 19 August-25 August 2009
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 August-25 August 2009
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2009. Report on Chaiten (Chile) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 August-25 August 2009. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Chaiten
Chile
42.8349°S, 72.6514°W; summit elev. 1122 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Based on web camera views and analyses of satellite imagery, the Buenos Aires VAAC reported that on 19 and 23 August steam-and-ash plumes from Chaitén's Domo Nuevo 1 and Domo Nuevo 2 lava-dome complex were detected. On 19 August, the plume drifted SW.
Geological Summary. Chaitén is a small caldera (~3 km in diameter) located 10 km NE of the town of Chaitén on the Gulf of Corcovado. Multiple explosive eruptions throughout the Holocene have been identified. A rhyolitic obsidian lava dome occupies much of the caldera floor. Obsidian cobbles from this dome found in the Blanco River are the source of artifacts from archaeological sites along the Pacific coast as far as 400 km from the volcano to the N and S. The caldera is breached on the SW side by a river that drains to the bay of Chaitén. The first recorded eruption, beginning in 2008, produced major rhyolitic explosive activity and building a new dome and tephra cone on the older rhyolite dome.