Chaiten (Chile)

Status Normal Eruption 2011 1122m
Caldera (Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km))

Chaitén is a small, glacier-free caldera with a compound Holocene lava dome located 10 km NE of the town of Chaitén on the Gulf of Corcovado. Early work had identified only a single explosive eruption during the early Holocene prior to the major 2008 eruption, but later work has identified multiple explosive eruptions throughout the Holocene. A rhyolitic obsidian lava dome occupies much of the caldera floor. Obsidian cobbles from this dome found in the Blanco River are the source of prehistorical artifacts from archaeological sites along the Pacific coast as far as 400 km from the volcano to the N and S. The caldera is breached on the SW side by a river that drains to the bay of Chaitén. The first historical eruption, beginning in 2008, produced major rhyolitic explosive activity and growth of a lava dome that filled much of the caldera.

The dome-filled caldera of Chaitén volcano is seen in an aerial view from the south taken prior to an eruption in 2008. The volcano is located 10 km NE of the town of Chaitén on the Gulf of Corcovado. The elliptical 2.5 x 4 km wide summit caldera was formed during an eruption dated at about 9400 years ago. A rhyolitic, 962-m-high obsidian lava dome occupies much of the caldera floor.

Photo by Eric Manríquez T. (Instituto Geográfico Militar).

Last updated 2019-12-17 05:00:03