Chile's Chaitén Volcano Explodes With Violence

by The Mansion

The Chaitén volcano located on the Pacific coast in southern Chile began erupting on May 2, once thought dormant the last eruption was 9000 years ago. Starting last week it has continued to pump out tons of volcanic ash, the eruption column is so large and intense it has reached the stratosphere at 100,000 feet. The immense ash cloud has now begun to circle the earth and may cause a worldwide reduction in sunlight. That's good news-bad news as it could reduce global temperatures by as much as 1-2 degrees something no one will complain about but it also can produce crop failures.
In 1991 Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted and released 20 million tons of sulphur dioxide which caused a brief period of global cooling lowering the earth's temperature by as much as 1-2 degrees.
Experts believe this recent activity may be the beginning of a much larger and explosive blast which could produce a deadly pyroclastic flow, a fast moving land wave filled with toxic gas, ash and boulder sized pumice... a caustic river of destruction reaching speeds of 50 miles an hour or more racing down the sides of a volcano and obliterating everything in sight.
Fortunately the area is sparsely populated and evacuations have already taken place, a 100 hundred mile evacuation zone is now in effect.
Chile is home to nearly 2000 volcanoes where 200 are considered active, making it a vulcanologist's dreamworld. The Chaiten volcano sits near the coast of the Pacific Ocean where the three tectonic plates, Antarctic Plate-Nazca Plate-South American Plate jostle one another producing vast amounts of stress in the earth's crust.
Some scientists believe a massive explosion could collapse the dome and cause a landslide capable of producing a oceanic tsunami.
Today ash from the volcano has reached Buenos Aires and three of Argentina's airports have canceled flights.

If things continue expect a damp cool summer, I remember 1991 very well.