The Chilean geological service SERNAGEOMIN and Chilean emergency management ONEMI have placed Lascar volcano on heightened alert status. Over 300 small earthquakes at the volcano have occurred in the last day or so, and evacuation may become necessary for the small towns and mining operations in proximity to the volcano.
Lascar is one of the three main volcanoes The Volcanofiles will be visiting on our journey to Chile, which begins this February and will go through early March. Our current itinerary has us starting work on Lascar on February 27th for six days, but we’ll see how things shape up once we’re there. Check out this amazing photo of Lascar from an eruption in 2006.
Keep an eye out with Lascar’s webcam
If you’re as anxious as we are to see what Lascar will do now that it is on alert status, keep an eye on the volcano by checking in on the webcam pointed right at it, courtesy of SERNAGEOMIN:
Some history
Lascar is the most active volcano of the Chilean Andes. The andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcano is composed of six overlapping craters. The biggest eruption ever at Lascar was about 26,500 years ago. The largest historical eruption occurred in 1993 when ash fall reached as far as Buenos Aires.
Lascar eruption in 1993
Lots of action in Chile these days…
Another smaller volcano, Callaqui, has had some possible ashy eruptions recently. One pilot reported seeing an “ash cloud” over the volcano. It’s on our way when we are driving between volcano sites in Chile, so we may stop to have a peak, time permitting.
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