Lascar (Chile)

Status Normal Eruption 2017 5592m
Stratovolcano(es) (Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km))

Lascar

Láscar is the most active volcano of the northern Chilean Andes. The andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcano contains six overlapping summit craters. Prominent lava flows descend its NW flanks. An older, higher stratovolcano 5 km E, Volcán Aguas Calientes, displays a well-developed summit crater and a probable Holocene lava flow near its summit (de Silva and Francis, 1991). Láscar consists of two major edifices; activity began at the eastern volcano and then shifted to the western cone. The largest eruption took place about 26,500 years ago, and following the eruption of the Tumbres scoria flow about 9000 years ago, activity shifted back to the eastern edifice, where three overlapping craters were formed. Frequent small-to-moderate explosive eruptions have been recorded since the mid-19th century, along with periodic larger eruptions that produced ashfall hundreds of kilometers away. The largest historical eruption took place in 1993, producing pyroclastic flows to 8.5 km NW of the summit and ashfall in Buenos Aires.

Volcán Láscar (right) is the most active volcano of the northern Chilean Andes. A steam plume rises in 1986 from one of six overlapping summit craters capping the andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcano, which is seen here from Toconao to the NW. Volcán Aguas Calientes (left center), an older, higher stratovolcano 5 km to the east, displays a well-developed summit crater and a probable Holocene lava flow near its summit. Frequent explosive eruptions have been recorded from Láscar since the mid-19th century.

Photo by Paul King, MINSAL Corporation, 1986 (courtesy of Peter Francis, Open University).

Last updated 2019-12-18 15:30:03

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