Chile's Puyehue Volcano Erupts after Lying Dormant for 51 Years

Puyehue erupted on June 4th, prompting the evacuation of 3500 people. Geologists say the sudden activity may have been triggered by last year's 8.8-magnitude earthquake. Last year, David Pyle at the University of Oxford suggested that an eruption would follow the 2010 Chilean earthquake. It's a case of history repeating, says Pyle, who analysed volcanic activity in Chile within a year of large earthquakes in 1906 and 1960. Following Japan's recent devastating quake, we can expect reports of increased volcanic activity in Japan, Russia and Indonesia in the next 6 to 12 months, Pyle says.

The volcano has not ceased to erupt. The volcano could erupt for an additional 10 days, Chilean Mining and Energy Minister Laurence Golborne said June 8. A rain of ash threatens smallholder farming. Authorities warned that rivers were about to flood due to the large amounts of ash and volcanic rock that have fallen in them and heavy rains that have doused the area of southern Chile. Tons of hot volcanic material had raised the temperature of the River Nilahue to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius), killing off large numbers of salmon; the average air temperature this time of year in the region is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Airports have closed because of the clouds of fine grit that can damage airplane engines. Numerous flights in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay also were canceled as a precaution.

A member of the media walks along a road covered with ash from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near the Cardenal Samore border pass between Argentina and Chile, June 7.

“Global warming” may become one of those quaint cocktail party conversations of the past if three key climate drivers [the Triple Crown of Cooling] — cooling North Pacific sea surface temperatures, extremely low solar activity, and increased volcanic eruptions — converge to form a “perfect storm” of plummeting temperatures that send our planet into a long-term cool-down lasting 20 or 30 years or longer. [Kirk Myers, Triple Crown of Global Cooling Could Pose Serious Threat to Humanity, Seminole County Environmental News Examiner, May 19, 2010]

Man is actually an insignificant producer of CO2, though he is prideful enough to think he is a major player. The greatest amount of carbon dioxide is locked up in plants, rocks, and the oceans. It should not be surprising that these each contribute more CO2 emissions than any other sources. The largest emitters of carbon dioxide are volcanic eruptions, forest and wild fires, and natural decomposition of plants and animals. This is a good thing, since there is a relatively stable and finite amount of both oxygen and carbon on this planet. If it weren’t for carbon dioxide, the earth could well be a frozen ball in space, and life, as we know it, would probably not be able to survive. - Facts about Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Ash from Chilean Volcano Grounds Flights

June 10, 2011

Associated Press - Steaming rivers filled with hot ash, rocks, and rain threatened to overflow their banks in southern Chile on Friday and ash clouds from a volcano that began erupting nearly a week ago kept some airports closed across much of the southern part of the continent.

In towns bordering the Cordon Caulle volcano, authorities warned that rivers were about to flood due to the large amounts of ash and volcanic rock that have fallen in them and heavy rains that have doused the area of southern Chile.

About 3,500 residents had been evacuated, and 500 of them were still in shelters Friday. Authorities were seeking legal permission Friday to evacuate a dozen more who refused to leave their property and animals behind.

The flow of the Nilahue and GolGol rivers near the volcano had increased from 1,000 cubic feet (30 cubic meters) per second to 5,600 cubic feet (160 cubic meters) per second, Chilean Public Works Minister Hernan de Solminihac said on state television Friday.

"It's important that people leave their homes for their own security, because the volcano has not ceased to erupt," he said.

Tons of hot volcanic material had raised the temperature of the River Nilahue to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius), killing off large numbers of salmon, Solminihac said. The average air temperature this time of year in the region is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).

Residents of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, and the neighboring Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, awakened Friday to ash-covered streets, sidewalks and automobiles.

And some who tried to leave found airports closed because of the clouds of fine grit that can damage airplane engines. Argentina's civil aviation authorities reopened Buenos Aires' two main airports on Friday once the cloud of ash moved away. Other smaller Argentine airports to the south and in Patagonia remained closed.

Numerous flights in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay also were canceled as a precaution. Authorities in Uruguay were considering a possible reopening of the international airport in Montevideo.

The volcano, which began erupting last Saturday, has also affected winter resorts in southern Argentina's Patagonia region, including San Carlos Bariloche, Villa La Angostura, San Martin de los Andes and Esquel.

The Southern Hemisphere's winter begins on June 21, and resort operators are concerned that a prolonged eruption could keep away tourists. In San Carlos de Bariloche, more than 65 percent of the nearly 4.5 billion pesos ($1 billion) collected by businesses comes in the three winter months, according to government statistics from 2010. About 250,000 tourists arrive each year in the city, which is more than 1,000 miles (1,650 kilometers) southwest of Buenos Aires.

Workers in the resort city filled 600 dump trucks Thursday with the ash that had fallen on the airport's main runway. Officials have said that the airport would be closed at least until June 21.

Chilean Volcano Grounds Flights, Coats Ski Slopes; Thousands Have Been Forced from Their Homes

June 6, 2011

Associated Press - An erupting Chilean volcano sent a towering plume of ash across South America on Monday, forcing thousands from their homes, grounding airline flights in southern Argentina and coating ski resorts with a gritty layer of dust instead of snow.

Booming explosions echoed across the Andes as toxic gases belched up from a three-mile-long (five-kilometer long) fissure in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic complex — a ridge between two craters just west of the Chilean-Argentine border that began erupting Saturday.

Winds blew a six-mile-high (10-kilometer-high) cloud of ash all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and even into southern Buenos Aires province, hundreds of miles to the northeast.

Authorities in Chile went house to house, trying to persuade stragglers near the volcano to leave because of an increasing danger of toxic gas and flash floods. By Monday, about 4,000 people had been evacuated from more than 22 communities. They began fleeing as swarms of earthquakes Saturday heralded the eruption and hundreds more fled Monday to shelters farther away.

Some refused to leave, wanting to protect their homes and livestock. Chile's verdant lakes region is a center for dairy farming, with more than 9,000 cows and sheep.

Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla said about 50 families in the Rininahue area refused to abandon their homes.

"Everything is prepared with shelter and transportation for them to immediately leave the danger zone," added Vicente Nunez, director of Chile's emergency preparedness office, urging them to leave.

Just north of the complex of volcanoes, the city of Futrono and the communities of Lago Ranco and Entre Rios were particularly vulnerable to flash floods. Some people also refused to leave Mantilhue, along the Rio Bueno, or "Good River," just six miles (10 kilometers) from the eruption. And while the evacuation order wasn't yet mandatory, a group of Mapuche Indians said they would seek the regional governor's authorization to enter the area to pray for the volcano to stop erupting.

Enrique Valdivieso, the director of Chile's National Geology and Mines Service, said the fissure was belching toxic gases and material that could clog rivers and force them to overflow.

Spectacular displays of lightning flashed in the volcanic clouds during the weekend, and while the amount of ash falling east of the volcano subsided significantly by Monday, experts said it was too early to predict how long it will take before the volcano falls silent.

Volcanic dust coated ski slopes above San Carlos de Bariloche and Villa la Angostura two weeks before the official start of the winter skiing season. The resorts' trade group said it was too early to say how it would affect the local economy, but for now, residents were told to stay indoors and tourists were asked not to come.

The Cordon Caulle is nearly 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Santiago, in Chile's lakes region, just west of Bariloche. Authorities went on alert before the eruption Saturday when as many as 240 tremors an hour struck the region.

The volcano's last major eruption was in 1960, shortly after a 9.5 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful in recorded history, struck Chile. Some scientists have said that last year's 8.8 quake in Chile increased the likelihood of volcanic activity due to shifts in pressure along the Earth's tectonic plates.

The ash cloud first blew over Argentina and then circled back over Chile on Sunday. By Monday, however, prevailing windshad spread the ash eastward as far as Bahia Blanca, in southern Buenos Aires province on the Argentine coast.

During the weekend, the volcano spat out pumice rocks nearly eight inches (20 centimeters) in diameter.

Because airborne ash can severely damage jet engines, all flights between Buenos Aires and the Andean resorts of Bariloche, Esquel and Chapelco were canceled until June 12. Seven other airports in Argentina were closed through Thursday, effectively isolating the southern Patagonia region from the rest of the country. Aerolineas Argentinas also cancelled nighttime flights well to the north of the volcanos, from Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile, and Mendoza, Argentina, as a precaution.

LAN airlines suspended more than 35 flights from Chile to southern Argentina, and some highways in Argentina also were closed.

Across Argentina's southern midsection, schools were closed, routine government work was suspended and elective surgery were canceled as well.

Also closed was the nearby border crossing of Cardenal Samore, where a twisting mountain road climbs through stunning arid valleys on the Argentina side before dropping through lush green forests and fields in Chile. Even when skies cleared in places Monday, the area was draped in an abrasive gray blanket.

The 11-mile-long (17-kilometer-long) Cordon Caulle rises 5,900-feet (1,800 meters) above sea level between the Pueyehue and Nevada volcanoes, above a connected complex of molten rock. Chile has more than 3,000 volcanoes along its Andean spine, and 500 of these are considered geologically active. About 60 of these have erupted in the last 450 years.