Evacuaties in zuiden Chili vanwege vulkaan Hudson

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Evacuaties rondom Hudson vulkaan
In het zuiden van Chili moeten een honderdtal mensen hun huizen verlaten nadat de vulkaan Hudson een verhoogde activiteit liet ptekenen. De autoriteiten hebben de hoogste staat van paraatheid afgekondigd.

Ze gaven het bevel tot evacuatie van de omwonenden in een straal van veertig kilometer rond de vulkaan in de regio Coyhaique, ongeveer 1.600 km ten zuiden van Santiago.

Volgens de Chileense minister van Binnenlandse Zaken Rodrigo Hinzpeter bleek tijdens het overvliegen van de vulkaan dat er langs een kant van de vulkaan water en aarde naar beneden kwam. Er werd ook een aspluim van een kilometer lang opgemerkt.

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Alertstatus Hudson volcano Chili to RED
Looks like another Chilean volcano could be becoming restless. The SERNAGEOMIN and OVDAS raised the alert status at Hudson in southern Chile (spanish) after an moderate earthquake swarm occurred at the volcano overnight. The report says that over 100 earthquakes have occurred since yesterday, mostly at depths between 15-25 km depth below the volcano and all to the NW of the caldera. The swarm appears to have tapered some today, but looks to be continuing. It seems that the swarm is serious enough for Chilean officials to begin to evacuate people who live near Hudson and ONEMI has declared a red alert status for communities near the volcano.

Hudson is one of the more active volcanoes in southern Chile with its last eruption coming in 1991 – and it was one of the largest of the 20th century. The 1991 activity was a VEI 5 with explosive event from the main caldera that sent ash over Argentina and noticeable ash as far away as the Falkland Islands, a full 1000 km from the volcano. The volcano is ice-covered, so multiple jokulhlaups and mudflows were produced during the eruption as well. This eruption produced a sulfur dioxide plume that was tracked across much of the southern hemisphere and effected the snow and air chemistry of Antarctica. Hudson is thought to have produced some of the largest eruptions in southern South America, including multiple VEI 6 eruptions that produced over 10 km3 of tephra.

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Hudson still rumbling
The revived Cerro Hudson in Chile is still rumbling after ending last week by producing at least three vents on the ice-covered volcano. The plumes seen last week (that reached as high as 9 km) look to be mostly steam from the right two plumes, but the far left still looks to be have some ash (see above) – and the grey on the snow and ice would attest to ash. Now, one question I haven’t seen an answer is whether the ash is accidental material coughed up in phreatic (steam-driven) explosions or juvenile (new) magma. At this point, my hunch would be accidental, but I’ve seen no evidence in either direction. The news this morning suggests the number of earthquakes at Hudson have decreased, but that could be merely a temporary drop in seismicity – which is why ONEMI has kept the alert status at Red for Hudson. The exclusion zone for Hudson is currently 45 km, suggesting that Chilean authorities worry about the generation of lahars/mudflows from any larger eruption and now 138 people have been evacuated.