Copahue

Copahue

Copahue's Astronaut Photography of Earth.
Highest point
Elevation 2,997 m (9,833 ft)[1]
Coordinates 37°51′S 71°10′W / 37.850°S 71.167°W / -37.850; -71.167Coordinates: 37°51′S 71°10′W / 37.850°S 71.167°W / -37.850; -71.167[1]
Geography
Copahue

Chile

Location Bío Bío Region,
 Chile
Parent range Andes
Geology
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Last eruption January 6 2016[1]
The crater lake at the eastern summit of Copahue Volcano.
Copahue Crater Lake.

Copahue (Spanish pronunciation: [koˈpawe]) is a stratovolcano in the Andes on the border of Bío Bío Region, Chile and Neuquén Province, Argentina. There are nine volcanic craters along a 2 km (1.2 mi) line, the easternmost of which is historically the most active, and contains a 300 m (1000 ft) wide crater lake with a pH ranging between 0.18 and 0.30.[2] Eruptions from this crater lake have ejected pyroclastic rocks and chilled liquid sulfur fragments.[1] Although the lake emptied during the 2000 eruption, it later returned to its previous levels. Copahue means "sulphur waters" in Mapuche.[3]

Copahue sits on a basement of sedimentary and volcanic rocks ranging in age from Eocene to Pliocene.[2] The modern volcano sits in a volcanically active area, with a caldera from the Pliocene, measuring 20 km by 15 km, lying to the east of Copahue. The modern volcano became active roughly 1.2 million years ago (Ma).[2] The modern caldera formed 0.6 to 0.4 Ma, and produced large pyroclastic flows, extending up to 37 km from the volcano.[2]

Satellite image of the December 2012 eruption

The modern structure is an elongated shield volcano, with a maximum thickness of 22 km and a minimum of 8 km.[2] It has erupted ten times since 1900, most recently between December 2012 and July 2014.[1][3] On 27 May 2013, it was reported that a red alert had been issued and the evacuation of around 2,000 people was to begin.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Copahue". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2005-02-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Naranjo, Jose; Polanco, Edmundo (2004). "The 2000 AD eruption of Copahue Volcano, Southern Andes". Revisita Geologica de Chile 31 (2): 279–292.
  3. 1 2 "Chile and Argentina on alert over Copahue volcano eruption". BBC News. 23 December 2012.
  4. "Red Alert Issued For Chile Volcano". Sky News. 27 May 2013.

Bibliography

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.