The Buenos Aires VAAC reported that an ash plume from Villarrica rose 2.7-4.6 km (9,000-15,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E at 1050 on 2 February based on webcam images and information from SERNAGEOMIN. By 1130 the ash plume was barely visible in satellite images. Webcam images showed continuous emissions of gas with sporadic puffs of ash that rose as high as 4.9 km (16,000 ft) a.s.l. The puffs of ash were diffuse by 1730, and by 2330 no emissions were visible in webcam and satellite images.

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: Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)