Calbuco ( ; es, Volcán Calbuco, ) is a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, located southeast of

Llanquihue Lake Lake Llanquihue is the second-largest lake in Chile with an area of about , after Lake General Carrera which shared with Argentina. It is situated in the southern Los Lagos Region in the Llanquihue and Osorno provinces. The lake's fan-like form ...

and northwest of

Chapo Lake Chapo Lake (Spanish: ''Lago Chapo'') is a lake of Chile located in Los Lagos Region. It lies immediately southeast of Calbuco volcano and south of Llanquihue National Reserve. Just south of the lake is Alerce Andino National Park Alerce Andino ...

, in the

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( es, Región de Los Lagos , ''Region of the Lakes'') is one of Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains ...

, and close to the cities of

Puerto Varas Puerto Varas, also known as "La ciudad de las rosas" or “the city of roses”, is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune located in the southern Chilean province of Llanquihue Province, Llanquihue, in the Los Lagos Region ...

and

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...

. With an elevation of 2,015 meters above sea level, the volcano and the surrounding area are protected within the

Llanquihue National Reserve Llanquihue National Reserve () is a national reserve of Chile. The reserve is bordered by the Petrohué River on the northeast and by the Reloncaví Estuary on the east. To the south, Chapo Lake and its shoreline is an intermediate area between t ...

. The most recent eruption, a major VEI 4 event, happened with little warning on April 22–23, 2015, followed by a smaller eruption on April 30. This was Calbuco's first activity since 1972.

Name and location

Calbuco is located partly in Puerto Varas Commune and partly in Puerto Montt Commune. It lies 49 km from the city of Puerto Varas and 69 km from Puerto Montt. Its name is thought to come from the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

words "kallfü" (blue) and "ko" (water), meaning "blue water". It shares the name with

Calbuco Island Calbuco Island (also Caicaén Island) is an island in the commune of Calbuco, Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost ...

in nearby

Reloncaví Sound Reloncaví Sound or ''Seno de Reloncaví'' is a body of water immediately south of Puerto Montt, a port city in the Los Lagos Region of Chile. It is the place where the Chilean Central Valley meets the Pacific Ocean. The Calbuco Archipelago com ...

as well as the city and

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Calbuco Calbuco is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Calbuco. Administratively Calbuco belongs to the Llanquihue Province of Los Lagos Region. The origin of the city was the Spanish Fort Calbuco founded in 1603, an ...

, although it is not located there.

Geology

Calbuco is a very explosive

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

whose

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

s usually contain 55 to 60% silicon dioxide (SiO₂). It is elongated in a SW-NE direction and is capped by a 400-500 meter wide summit crater. Its complex evolution included the collapse of an intermediate edifice during the late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

that produced a debris avalanche that reached Llanquihue Lake.

Volcanic activity

Plume from the April 22, 2015 eruption of Calbuco

Calbuco has had 36 confirmed eruptions during the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

, 13 of which have been recorded in historical times. 20th century eruptions took place in 1906, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1917, 1929, 1932, 1945, 1961, and 1972. A series of three eruptions occurred from April 22–30, 2015. The 1893–95 Calbuco eruption was one of the largest ever to take place in southern

, with debris ejected to distances of eight kilometres, accompanied by voluminous hot

lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extreme ...

s. The 1893 eruption disrupted the daily life of German settlers in eastern Llanquihue Lake. In this area potato fields,

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

and

apiculture Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

was negatively impacted. Cattle were evacuated from the area and settlers lobbied the government of

Jorge Montt Jorge Montt Álvarez (; April 26, 1845 – October 8, 1922) was a vice admiral in the Chilean Navy and president of Chile from 1891 to 1896.L.S. Rowe, "Passing of a Great Figure in Chilean History." ''Bulletin Pan American Union'' 55 (1922): ...

to be relocated elsewhere. In the strong explosions of April 1917, a

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...

formed in the crater accompanied by hot lahars. Another short explosive eruption in January 1929 also included an apparent

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...

and a

flow. The major eruption of 1961 sent ash columns 12–15 km high, produced plumes that dispersed mainly to the south east and emitted two lava flows. There was a minor, four-hour eruption on August 26, 1972. Strong fumarolic emission from the main crater was observed on August 12, 1996. The most recent eruption happened in April 2015, when on April 22, the volcano suddenly erupted with little warning, sending a large ash column into the atmosphere; another eruption occurred in the early hours of April 23. A smaller eruption occurred on April 30. The eruptions ranked as a 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The volcano returned to the lowest alert level on August 18, 2015. The ash of the eruption dispersed nutrients into the sea which may have contributed to unleashing the

algal bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompas ...

of 2016.

Gallery

File:Calbuco 11 Feb 2010 zoomed out.jpg, Calbuco viewed from the north alongside Road 225 on the shores of

(February 11, 2010). File:Volcán Osorno 006.jpg, From Osorno volcano (July 28, 2006). File:Calbuco22-4-15.jpg, View of the eruption column of Calbuco Volcano from

Puerto Varas, Chile Puerto Varas, also known as "La ciudad de las rosas" or “the city of roses”, is a city and commune located in the southern Chilean province of Llanquihue, in the Los Lagos Region. The city is famous for its German traditions, its natural env ...

, on April 22, 2015. File:Calbuco Volcano Erupts in Southern Chile.jpg, Picture taken with

VIIRS The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a sensor designed and manufactured by the Raytheon Company on board the polar-orbiting Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 weather satellites. VIIRS ...

, infrared, April 23, 2015. File:Calbco Eruption.webm, The

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...

passes over a plume of ash and SO₂ from the eruption.

References

Sources

* *

External links

"Volcán Calbuco, Chile"
on Peakbagger
Roja: Declina actividad del volcán Calbuco tras segunda erupción
on Sernageomin
Se mantiene monitoreo permanente al volcán Calbuco
on Onemi
Calbuco volcano description with photo gallery of its historical eruptions

Analysis of precursory activity of the 2015 eruption

First studies with results of the 2015 eruption
;Videos 2015 Eruption
Video Calbuco Volcano Erupts
by

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

2015-04-23
Video Timelapse Calbuco Chile 2015-04-22
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{Andean volcanoes Stratovolcanoes of Chile Volcanoes of Los Lagos Region

Mountains of Los Lagos Region South Volcanic Zone 21st-century volcanic events VEI-5 volcanoes