Report on Chaiten (Chile) — 28 October-3 November 2009
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 28 October-3 November 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, 28 October-3 November 2009. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Chaiten
Chile
42.833°S, 72.646°W; summit elev. 1122 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Buenos Aires VAAC reported that on 30 October a diffuse ash plume from Chaitén's lava-dome complex rose possibly mixed with steam and gas drifted SSE. On 1 November, a plume drifted 20 km W.
Geological Summary. Chaitén is a small, glacier-free caldera with a compound Holocene lava dome located 10 km NE of the town of Chaitén on the Gulf of Corcovado. Early work had identified only a single explosive eruption during the early Holocene prior to the major 2008 eruption, but later work has identified multiple explosive eruptions throughout the Holocene. 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 prehistorical 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 historical eruption, beginning in 2008, produced major rhyolitic explosive activity and growth of a lava dome that filled much of the caldera.