OVDAS-SERNAGEOMIN reported that during 15-28 April seismicity at Villarrica fluctuated but remained at moderate levels. Intermittent crater incandescence was observed and diffuse gas plumes mostly consisting of water vapor rose from the crater. Data from monitoring stations and pictures taken during an overflight on 21 April confirmed the presence of a lava lake and Strombolian explosions. During 23-27 April Strombolian explosions ejected material that remained mostly within the crater or no more than 100 m away. The Alert Level remained at Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale) and the public was warned to stay outside of a 5-km radius around the crater and 200 m away from drainages.

Geological Summary. The glacier-covered Villarrica stratovolcano, in the northern Lakes District of central Chile, is ~15 km south of the city of Pucon. A 2-km-wide caldera that formed about 3,500 years ago is located at the base of the presently active, dominantly basaltic to basaltic-andesite cone at the NW margin of a 6-km-wide Pleistocene caldera. More than 30 scoria cones and fissure vents are present on the flanks. Plinian eruptions and pyroclastic flows that have extended up to 20 km from the volcano were produced during the Holocene. Lava flows up to 18 km long have issued from summit and flank vents. Eruptions documented since 1558 CE have consisted largely of mild-to-moderate explosive activity with occasional lava effusion. Glaciers cover 40 km2 of the volcano, and lahars have damaged towns on its flanks.

Source: Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN)