Before this week gets away from me too much, there are a few volcanoes rumbling over the past weekend I wanted to mention: "
Tungurahua, Ecuador Finally, another restless volcano of South America reminded us of its presence this week as Ecuador's Tungurahua erupted on Sunday. Bombs from the new activity were through upwards of 1-2 km from the crater, ash fell on the the communities near the volcano including Matus, Bayushig, Manzano and Penipe and small pyroclastic flows were observed as well. There are scores of images from this new activity as well, showing the incandescent summit and sprays of tephra being ejected from the volcano. The alert status was upgraded to orange after the commencement of the activity and evacuations are underway for people living near Tungurahua. {Special thanks, as always, to all the Eruptions readers who provided links used in this post!}
Popocatépetl, Mexico
Last week, Popocatépetl produced a small ash plume - ~4.8 km / 15,000 feet - but it was big enough to make the international news. The volcano is only 65 km / 40 miles from Mexico City, so any rumbling tends to catch people's attention. This explosion was the kind of activity that is common at Popocatépetl but even so,catching the explosion on video when you're near the erupting volcano can be quite surprising (to say the least). A 12 km exclusion zone has been declared around the volcano's main crater as a precaution.
Galeras, Colombia A few days ago, INGEOMINAS raised the alert status at Galeras, Colombia's most active volcano. Persistent tremor at Galeras prompted the elevation to orange status, suggesting an eruption was expected in days to weeks. The current threat is for phreatic eruptions as rising magma interacts with water in the hydrothermal system, but Galeras can produce more explosive eruptions as well. Preparations were started to evacuate the ~8,000 people who live near the volcano, however as of today, only 800 have evacuated. Meanwhile, low level seismicity continues at Machín, Ruiz and Huila, Colombia's three other restless volcanoes. Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile Sometimes it feels like a broken record, but the sustained eruption at Puyehue-Cordón Caulle in Chile continues to cause air travel problems in southern South America. This time ash blowing to the east caused delays or cancellations in both Uruguay and Argentina. Eruptions reader Kirby grabbed a MODIS image taken on November 27, 2011 that shows the ash stretching across South America (see below). As the calendar turns to December, we've now reached over 6 months of explosive activity at Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, making it one of the most prolonged eruptions of 2011.
