Vulcan's Wrath

(Newser) - A mammoth plume of ash and smoke from a newly erupted volcano in Chile is slowly working its way across South America and now poses a health risk to the 8 million residents of Beunos Aires, AFP reports. Thousands of residents of southern Chile were evacuated Tuesday, with ash coating city streets and health officials urging people to don masks. More »

(Newser) - The southern Chilean town of Chaiten has been totally evacuated after a volcano, active since Friday, belched molten lava and ash more than 12 miles high, the AP reports. Around 4,000 people have already left the area since the volcano—believed dormant for thousands of years—began acting up, and navy ships evacuated any that remained today. More »

(Newser) - As many as 15,000 people living near Colombia's Nevado del Huila volcano were evacuated today as the mountain spit hot ash onto the area. Officials report no injuries, but say it's too early to assess the damage or offer a prognosis for the eruption. "Other types of material could come, like lava, but we don't at the moment know the exact situation," a local authority said. More »

(Newser) - Officials ordered the evacuation of Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park yesterday due to potentially poisonous fumes seeping from two craters. Voluntary evacuations of nearby towns were also announced, but few people have left, reports the Honolulu Advertiser . "We still remain on alert and we're going to monitor 24/7 to make sure people are safe," says the Big Island's mayor. More »

(Newser) - Halemaumau Crater on Hawaii's Big Island is acting up—venting gas and the occasional gobbet of lava. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is classifying the activity as the crater's first eruption since 1982, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports; scientists are unsure whether the trickle could turn into a larger, more dangerous convulsion. "It might," the Observatory's head said yesterday. More »

(Newser) - The massive Tungurahua volcano in the Ecuadoran Andes erupted in smoke and fire yesterday, forcing thousands of villagers to flee. Eleven families who refused to leave the area were removed by force as the volcano shot columns of ash six miles into the air, AP reports. Tungurahua—meaning "throat of fire" in the Quechua language—buried entire villages in a 2006 eruption. More »

(Newser) - The discovery of what scientists are hailing as the first evidence of a volcanic eruption under Antarctica’s massive ice sheet may be linked to climate change, the BBC reports. British researchers, who discovered evidence of a volcano by analyzing radar data from an air survey, believe the eruption likely happened some 2,000 years ago and ripped through its ice ceiling, spouting steam and rocky debris into the air. More »

(Newser) - A volcano erupted in southwestern Colombia last night, lighting up the night sky with lava and throwing volcanic ash miles into the sky. The mayor ordered the evacuation of the 8,000 or so people who live near Mount Galeras, but one seismologist said that most of the city is not in danger. No serious injuries have been reported, the AP says. More »

(Newser) - A toxic mud volcano has been flowing on the Indonesian island of Java for 18 months, and authorities are stuck. Since an energy company opened an underground fissure while drilling for natural gas, 11 villages have been swamped by the ooze. Plugging the hole with air-dropped concrete balls and hiring mystics to employ supernatural means are among the failed measures. More »

(Newser) - Not one but two catastrophic events may have spelled destruction for the Age of Dinosaurs, previously thought to have ended when an asteroid or comet struck the earth. New research suggests the prehistoric giants died off in “an unfortunate coincidence of a one-two punch—of Deccan volcanism and then a hit from space," said a Princeton paleontologist. More »

(Newser) - A blob of errant magma gathering 6 miles beneath Yellowstone National Park—the same molten rock that makes Old Faithful spurt and heats the park's famous hot springs—has caused the caldera, or volcanic floor, to rise 3 inches since 2004. Scientists say that though the rate of increase is unprecedented, there is no imminent risk of eruption, LiveScience reports. More »

(Newser) - Thousands are ignoring orders to evacuate as Indonesia's Mount Kelud belches smoke and spits lava, the AP reports. "I feel it is OK to stay here. No one can guarantee our safety apart from ourselves," said one local in Java. But experts have had the volcano on high alert for two weeks; one says that an eruption would be worse than in 1990, when Kelud killed 30 and injured hundreds. More »

(Newser) - At least eight people were missing early today after a volcano erupted on an island off Yemen, shooting smoking lava hundreds of feet into the air and turning the sky black.  A Canadian ship in a nearby NATO fleet was participating in a search-and-rescue operation in a hunt for the missing, believed to be at sea. A military garrison on the island of Jazirt Atta-Ir was being evacuated. More »