On June 4, 2011, a fissure opened in Chile’s Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex, sending ash 45,000 feet (14,000 meters) into the air. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image shortly after the eruption began.
The brown ash plume reaches high above the clouds, covering much of the scene, and casts a shadow towards the southeast. Along the leading edge of the plume, it appears that heavier material is falling out of the ash cloud, while finer particles remain suspended in the atmosphere.
After this image was taken, the ash quickly blew eastward towards Argentina. Over the border, near the town of Bariloc, a layer of ash at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) deep covered the ground, the Buenos Aires Heraldreported. Argentinian police collected golfball-sized pumice near the border, which is at least 21 kilometers (13 miles) from the eruption...
(courtesy of www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
(NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC)
The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex (PCCVC) is a large NW-SE-trending late-Pleistocene to Holocene basaltic-to-rhyolitic transverse volcanic chain SE of Lago Ranco. The 1799-m-high Pleistocene Cordillera Nevada caldera lies at the NW end, separated from Puyehue stratovolcano at the SE end by the Cordón Caulle fissure complex. The Pleistocene Mencheca volcano with Holocene flank cones lies NE of Puyehue. The basaltic-to-rhyolitic Puyehue volcano is the most geochemically diverse of the PCCVC. The flat-topped, 2236-m-high Puyehue volcano was constructed above a 5-km-wide caldera and is capped by a 2.4-km-wide summit caldera of Holocene age. Lava flows and domes of mostly rhyolitic composition are found on the eastern flank of Puyehue. Historical eruptions originally attributed to Puyehue, including major eruptions in 1921-22 and 1960, are now known to be from the Cordón Caulle rift zone. The Cordón Caulle geothermal area, occupying a 6 x 13 km wide volcano-tectonic depression, is the largest active geothermal area of the southern Andes volcanic zone.
(courtesy of www.volcano.si.edu, www.allchile.net, & friends from www.groundtruthtrekking.org)
-Maureen Lang
Excellent links included- thanks for posting.
Johnny
Posted by: JLMcK | June 12, 2011 at 02:46 PM
More news of recent volcanic activity around the world to be had here http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/aggregator/sources/1.
Thanks for the forward Maureen.
Posted by: Dave Williams | June 13, 2011 at 08:44 PM
Remember that vulcanologist in the Nova episode about Mount Pinatubo on Luzon? After a look at the link in Dave Williams post I feel we should buy some marshmallows to put in our pockets before Mt. St. Helens also goes off again. What do you think, Dave?
Posted by: Panaman | June 14, 2011 at 09:34 AM
--we should buy some marshmallows to put in our pockets
Because we're about to be toasted? This USGS link should put your mind somewhat at ease for Calif. Panaman http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/#
Posted by: David Williams | June 14, 2011 at 02:09 PM
Oddly reassuring to find others watching all the activity. Smoke and ash around the globe now.
Nabro is blowing near Eritrea/Ethiopia border, the first time in historical record. Historically active Shiveluch in Russia's Pacific Kamchatka peninsula, is rousing itself again. And across the parched US south, wildfires, including the massive Wallow fire along the Arizona/New Mexico border, which has now burned a record 745 square miles, is only marginally controlled.
A curious aside concerning Nabro. The volcano is located in the Afar rift. Researchers at University of Leeds in UK believe that Africa is tearing apart to form a new ocean. http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/afar/
Posted by: smoke | June 18, 2011 at 03:14 PM