Volcanic Plume Blankets S. America

Cordon Caulle has been going for six weeks now

(AP) - The 100 million tons of ash and rock spewed by an Andean volcano has meant hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for communities accustomed to profiting from the dramatic mountain landscape. The Cordon Caulle volcano opened a new gash along a ridge just across the border and upwind from Argentina. For six weeks now, it has been belching ash into the sky, grounding flights across the lower third of South America for most of the winter tourist season. More»

(AP) - A volatile volcano in central Indonesia unleashed its most powerful eruption yet today, spewing hot ash and smoke thousands of feet into the air and sending panicked villagers racing back to emergency shelters. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Mount Lokon, located on northern Sulawesi island, has been dormant for years but rumbled back to life late last week. Surono, a government volcanologist who uses only one name, said today's 10:35am eruption released the greatest amount of energy so far, shooting soot and debris 11,400 feet into the sky. More»

Chile's Puyehue fills Lake Nahuel Haupi in Argentina

(NEWSER) - Just how much ash has Chile's Puyehue volcano spewed into the air? This much: The 210 square miles of Lake Nahuel Haupi in neighboring Argentina have been filled with ash, the Telegraph reports. In this video, a diver shows you just how thick the ash is. And yes, all that gray you see is ash. More»

First major eruption in decades sends ash six miles into sky

(NEWSER) - The southern Chile volcano Puyehue erupted yesterday, sending ash more than six miles into the air and forcing 3,500 people to be evacuated from their homes. The volcano erupted yesterday afternoon after a series of earthquakes in the morning, as many as 230 per hour, reports the AP . Much of the heavy ash cloud has crossed the border into Argentina, falling on the resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche and closing the local airport. This is the first major eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain since 1960, the Guardian reports. More»

Shinmoedake had been quiet for a few weeks

(NEWSER) - It's an even better time to not be in Japan: Adding to the country's burgeoning humanitarian crisis after Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami, a volcano in the country's south erupted today. The Shinmoedake volcano spewed ash some two and a half miles into the air, its first activity in a few weeks. It's unknown whether the eruption was spurred by the 8.9 earthquake, notes the AP, but the country lies on the "Ring of Fire," where seismic and volcanic activity are frequent. Click for the latest on Japan's earthquake and aftermath . More»