What is Villarrica volcano famous for?
Villarrica, with its lava of basaltic-andesitic composition, is one of a small number worldwide known to have an active (but in this case intermittent) lava lake within its crater. The volcano usually generates strombolian eruptions with ejection of incandescent pyroclasts and lava flows.
How old is Villarrica volcano?
The volcanic edifice was built at the rim of two overlapping calderas: one 6-km wide caldera formed about 10,000 years ago, and a second, 2 km wide caldera about 3500 years ago. The volcano is located at the NW margin of the older caldera.
How was Villarrica volcano formed?
Villarrica is a stratovolcano, and one of the many active volcanoes of the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Chilean Andes. This section of volcanoes has formed in response to the subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plates, and stretches along the backbone of Chile for over a thousand kilometres.
What type of volcano is Villarrica in Chile?
basaltic volcano
Villarrica is an open system basaltic volcano with a long historic record that includes four fatal eruptions. A very large (VEI=5) eruption was dated ca. 1810 BC by the carbon-14 method. The first historic eruption was recorded in 1558.
How many eruptions has Villarrica had?
Villarrica volcano is located in the volcanic chain of the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) of the Chilean Andes. It is one of the most active Chilean volcanoes with 59 documented eruptions since 1558 (Petit-Breuilh and Lobato, 1994; Lara and Clavero, 2004).
When did Villarrica last erupt?
Villarrica, located in Chile, has had historical eruptions dating back to 1558. The current eruption period began in December 2014 and more recently has been characterized by summit crater incandescence, Strombolian explosions, and ash emissions (BGVN 45:09).
How long has Villarrica been active?
When did Villarrica erupt?
March 3, 2015
In the predawn hours of March 3, 2015, one of Chile’s most active volcanoes exploded to life. Thousands of people evacuated from within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius of Villarrica. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired the top image on February 22, 2015, prior to the main eruption.
When was Villarrica last active?
When did Villarrica volcano last erupt?
3 March 2015
On 3 March 2015, Villarrica Volcano erupted in the early hours of the morning, emitting gas, ash, and lava up to 1000 metres (3,300 feet) into the air. After the initial eruption, no further ash, lava, or toxic gases were emitted from the volcano.
What kind of eruption does Villarrica have?
Eruptions documented at Chile’s Villarrica since 1558 have consisted largely of mild-to-moderate explosive activity with occasional lava effusion.
How often does Villarrica erupt?
about once per decade
Villarrica is, along with Llaima, one of Chile’s most active volcanoes. While larger eruptions occur about once per decade (most recently in 1984-1985), small-scale persistent activity within the summit crater is much more frequent, and has continued ever since the last lava outflow in the 1984-1985 eruption.