DESCRIPTION:
Chile Volcanoes and Volcanics

[Map,15K,InlineGIF]
Major Volcanoes of Chile
-- includes Azul ... Copahue ... Hudson ... Llaima ... Villarrica ...

Cerro Azul (Quizapu): Stratovolcano; 3,788 meters elevation; erupted during "historical" times.

Cerro Hudson - Stratovolcano; 1,905 meters elevation; historical eruptions of 1891, 1971 (northwest part of the caldera), and 1991 (northwest caldera rim and southwest caldera floor).

Mount Hudson lies in a stretch of the southern Andes that has relatively few active volcanoes. A North-South fault (one of many extending much of the length of Chile) passes several kilometers west of Mount Hudson (Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria, 1980).

The caldera of Mount Hudson is ice filled and was not known until shortly before the unrest in 1970-71 (Fuenzalida Ponce and Espinosa, 1973).

From: Dzurisin and Newhall, 1988, Historical Unrest at Large Calderas of the World: USGS Bulletin 1855

1970-71 Eruption: Abnormally high level of a river was observed in April 1970, with marked fluctuations not correlated with rainfall. The caldera is ice filled, and melting of ice presumably was responsible for increased and fluctuating flow. An explosive eruption occurred on 12 August 1971. Shallow local seismicity ... was reported, but there was no indication whether it preceded or accompanied the eruption.

Mount Hudson - 1973

From: Dzurisin and Newhall, 1988, Historical Unrest at Large Calderas of the World: USGS Bulletin 1855

1973: Ground temperatures rose suddenly in April, causing 70 percent of the ice cover of Mount Hudson to melt. No eruption was observed, but it is possible that a small eruption occurred under ice.

Mount Hudson - 1991

From: Smithsonian Institution's Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, v.16, 1991

• SO₂ circles globe; aircraft encounter ash over Australia, >one cubic kilometer of airfall on Argentina
  -- v.16, no.7, July 1991:

• Basaltic fissure eruption preceded andesitic paroxysmal phase; strong winds rework major ash deposits
  -- v.16, no.8, August 1991:

• New mudflow and gas emission
  -- v.16, no.9, September 1991:

Villarrica (2,847 meters), one of Chile's most active volcanoes, rises above the lake and town of the same name. It is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes that trend perpendicular to the Andean chain. A 6-kilometer wide caldera formed during the late Pleistocene, >0.9 million years ago. A 2-kilometer-wide postglacial caldera is located at the base of the presently active, dominantly basaltic-to-andesitic cone at the NW margin of the Pleistocene caldera. About 25 scoria cones dot Villarica's flanks. Plinian eruptions and pyroclastic flows have been produced during the Holocene from this dominantly basaltic volcano, but historical eruptions have consisted largely of mild-to-moderate explosive activity with occasional lava effusion. Lahars from the glacier-covered volcano have damaged towns on its flanks.

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