6.2 Mag Quake Strikes Chile Near Bio-Bio

A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck today near Bio-Bio in Chile, off the coast. No tsunami warning was issued (at least according to the few reports I read). The quake was at a depth of 29.7KM, and was followed by a 4.9 aftershock. The town of Tome' was the hardest hit, with shaking in the area characterized as strong-very strong on the USGS scale. The quake was felt further inland.

Chile is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and resides entirely on the rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the tectonic plate boundary where the majority of Earth's active volcanoes are located.

Chile has seen some very strong quakes in recent years, with an 8.8, and 9.0 striking last year alone. The 9.0 quake did cause a tsunami, that resulted in only one fatality (a guy from my hometown no less!) where a man was taking pictures of the wave at his own risk, and got swept up the West Coast from California and ended up in Oregon. Some damage was caused by the tsunami in various ports where boats got knocked together, and a minor wave also 'hit' Hawaii, although this caused little damage as well.

There is no word yet on whether or not the current quake caused any damage or injuries. 

Headaches For South American Travellers As Puyehue Cordon-Caulle Continues To Erupt

BBC news and local websites are reporting that Argentina's airport in Bariloche, which was closed due to the eruption of Puyehue Cordon-Caulle volcano in Chile, had reopened three days ago after a 7-month closure due to volcanic ash, only to close again today as another wave of ash fell on the airport. I guess you can say this is the Southern hemisphere's Eyjafjallajokull moment. Airports as far as Melbourne, Australia have been forced to close due to the amount of ash in the air, as this volcano continues a strong eruptive cycle.

Chile's  Puyehue Cordon-Caulle volcano sprang back to life last year with major ash emissions coming from the Cordon-Caulle fissure system. The eruption has ejected many thousands of tons of ash into the atmosphere, and the ash cloud has recently circumnavigated the entire southern hemisphere. The current eruption has been characterized as highly explosive, with a VEI of 3, and has ejected pumice, effused lava down the flank, and has so far released enough energy equivalent to 70 nuclear bombs!

The eruption has forced closure of over 10 airports in the Southern Hemisphere, and has caused travel delays and chaos for months. However, like the Icelandic eruption of 2010, it is far better to be late, than to be dead, so I'm certain airlines are erring on the side of caution in this case.

Aside from the ashfall, and danger of lahars, the volcano has not caused any deaths or fatalities (directly) from the eruption. It has been erupting since April/March of 2011 and so far shows no signs of quieting down.

Eruptions from this volcano are somewhat rare, with many reports of historical eruption highly questionable, with the exception of the 1914, and 1960 eruptions.

Chile's Lascar Volcano Alert Level Raised

The Smithsonian GVP and Chilean media report that Lascar volcano has been raised a level on their alert scale due to increasing seismicity and volcanic tremor. There is a great article on Wired.com that details the latest unrest and provides plenty of great links to other info and a webcam for you volcano-voyeurs.

Lascar Volcano is one of Chile's most active volcanoes. Situated amongst many other young and old stratovolcanoes in the Andes range, many of them also considered to be active, it has produced some very large eruptions in our recent history, the largest of which occurred in 1993 when pyroclastic flows traveled more than 8KM from the summit, and ash fell as far away as Buenos Aires. Current activity would likely consist of explosive eruptions, although probably not as large as the 1993 event.

The volcano is located about 70KM southwest of the town of San Pedro de Atacama. The volcano, due to its remoteness, is not considered a threat to anyone, or anything (except perhaps aircraft due to ash), and is not close (within 20 miles or so) to any population centers.

You can read the article on Wired.com for yourself, and enjoy going down the rabbit holes (links). Its always fun to get to really know a volcano!

Quiet Week in Volcano World

This week has been so far pretty quiet as far as new or interesting geological events, but a few have occurred.

Indonesia suffered a 7.3 Mag Quake off the coast of Sumatra, prompting the government to issue a brief tsunami warning (even though the Pacific Tsunami Center stated that there was no tsunami... I'd be freaked out if I were them too!). The quake did not damage any buildings.

Chile's Callaqui volcano appears to have either never erupted as reported, or had a very brief, non-explosive event. It is now thought that the volcano was merely exhibiting vigorous fumerole steaming.

El Hierro is in a holding pattern, with tremor at a medium level, and the stain on the ocean surface persistent. Not a lot has changed since the last post.

The quake swarm that was occurring at Mono Lake in California appears to have subsided or ceased. If this was magma dike intrusion, it was a very small one.

The quake swarm at Sierraville, CA (which scientists do say is a magma dike intrusion event) is ongoing after taking a few weeks off.

The volcano Sakura-Jima in Japan broke its previous record for the most explosive eruptions in a year -- around 980! (This is one of Japan's most active volcanoes).

Jebel-Zubair off the Yemen coast is still erupting and building more land, however the eruption (at last glance) appears to be subsiding. Based on the size of the other islands in the area, it is reasonable to assume this will be a short eruption, with a lasting island (given the lava composition).

If anything new or interesting occurs, I will surely post about it! There has not been a brand-new eruption to report on so far this year, so I will update some other volcanoes I am monitoring. Stay tuned!

Chilean Volcano Callaqui Erupts

The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program reported an eruption today at the Callaqui volcano in Chile. This makes a total of 3 currently erupting volcanoes in Chile with Chaiten, and Puyehue-Cordón Caulle. Chile has seen some rare eruptions from some of its least known, and least active volcanoes in recent years. In 2008, Chaiten, a stratovolcano with no historical records of any eruptive activity, violently exploded, destroying the small town of the same name to the West of the volcano. Puyehue-Cordón Caulle erupted several years later. Both eruptions are ongoing.

The Smithsonian GVP had this to say about the new eruption (which wasn't much):

"Based on a pilot observation, the Buenos Aires VAAC reported that the top of an ash plume from Callaqui was at 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. on 2 January. Ash was not detected in satellite imagery under clear skies.

Geologic Summary:

The late-Pleistocene to Holocene Callaqui stratovolcano has a profile of an overturned canoe due to its construction along an 11-km-long, SW-NE fissure above a 1.2-0.3 million year old Pleistocene edifice. The ice-capped, 3164-m-high basaltic-andesite Callaqui volcano contains well-preserved volcanic cones and lava flows, which have traveled up to 14 km. Small craters 100-500 m in diameter are primarily found along a fissure extending down the SW flank. Intense solfataric activity occurs at the southern part of the summit; in 1966 and 1978, red glow was observed in fumarolic areas. Periods of intense fumarolic activity have dominated at Callaqui, and few historical eruptions are known. An explosive eruption was reported in 1751, there were uncertain accounts of eruptions in 1864 and 1937, and a small phreatic ash emission was noted in 1980."