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Report on Planchon-Peteroa (Chile) — 15 September-21 September 2010


Planchon-Peteroa

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 September-21 September 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Planchon-Peteroa (Chile) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 September-21 September 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (15 September-21 September 2010)

Planchon-Peteroa

Chile

35.223°S, 70.568°W; summit elev. 3977 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


According to NASA's Earth Observatory, a satellite image of Planchón-Peteroa shows an ash plume drifting 22 km SE on 18 September and ashfall on the snow beneath the plume. The Buenos Aires VAAC reported that according to a SIGMET issued on 21 September an ash plume rose to an altitude of 6.1 km (20,000 ft) a.s.l and drifted SE. Ash was not identified in satellite imagery. The Alert Level remained at 4, Yellow.

Geological Summary. Planchón-Peteroa is an elongated complex volcano along the Chile-Argentina border with several overlapping calderas. Activity began in the Pleistocene with construction of the basaltic-andesite to dacitic Volcán Azufre, followed by formation of basaltic and basaltic-andesite Volcán Planchón, 6 km to the north. About 11,500 years ago, much of Azufre and part of Planchón collapsed, forming the massive Río Teno debris avalanche, which traveled 95 km to reach Chile's Central Valley. Subsequently, Volcán Planchón II was formed. The youngest volcano, andesitic and basaltic-andesite Volcán Peteroa, consists of scattered vents between Azufre and Planchón. Peteroa has been active into historical time and contains a small steaming crater lake. Historical eruptions from the complex have been dominantly explosive, although lava flows were erupted in 1837 and 1937.

Sources: Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), NASA Earth Observatory