POVI reported that vigorous Strombolian activity at Villarrica was visible overnight during 2-3 December. Incandescent material was ejected as high as 85 m above the crater rim. SERNAGEOMIN reported that at 2030 on 9 December a long-period (LP) earthquake associated with fluid movement was accompanied by an emission that rose 120 m above the vent and drifted ENE. The Volcanic Alert level remained at Yellow (the third level on a four-level scale) according to SERNAGEOMIN.

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.

Sources: Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN), Proyecto Observación Villarrica Internet (POVI)