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Report on Chaiten (Chile) — 13 January-19 January 2010


Chaiten

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 13 January-19 January 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Chaiten (Chile) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 13 January-19 January 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (13 January-19 January 2010)

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 an ash plume from Chaitén's lava-dome complex drifted NNE on 14 January at an altitude of 1.8 km (6,000 ft) a.s.l. A steam-and-gas plume drifted NE at the same altitude the next day.

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.

Source: Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)