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Llaima
Llaima Volcano is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Chile. It is situated 82 km northeast of Temuco and 663 km southeast of Santiago, within the borders of Conguillio National Park. Llaimas activity has been documented since the 17th century, and consists of several separate episodes of moderate explosive eruptions with occasional lava flows.
The volcano, along with Sierra Nevada, surrounds the Conguillio Lake.
Its slopes are drained by the rivers Captren, Quepe and Trufultruful. The former ones are tributaries of Cautin River and the latter is affluent of Allipen River.
The average elevation of the terrain around Llaima is about 740 m asl.
Name
Llaima is a Mapuche word meaning "Blood Veins". The volcano also has been called Chanel, a Mapuche name that is related with its finger shape. During the Spanish rule, it was named Imperial, because of its location close to the city of Carahue, then called La Imperial.
Subsidiary peaks
The top of Llaima consists of two summits, the lower of the two is named Pichillaima, is about high and is meaningfully less prominent than the other, northern summit.
Recreation
The ski center Las Araucarias lies on the volcano's western slopes.
Eruptions
Llaima is one of Chile's most active volcanoes and has frequent but moderate eruptions. The last major eruption occurred in 1994.
An eruption on January 1, 2008 forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from nearby villages. A column of smoke approximately 3000 m high was observed. An amateur caught the early eruption phase on video. The volcanic ash expelled by Llaima travelled east over the Andes into Argentina. Ash fall was recorded in the area of Zapala, Neuquen Province, and forced the cancellation of flights to and from Presidente Peron Airport near the city of Neuquen.
See also
Lonquimay
Tolhuaca
References
Global Volcanism Program: Llaima
AraucariasThere is a video of the eruption on http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7160000/newsid_7167400/7167415.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1
External links
Llaima Volcano Visual Observation Project
Sulfur Dioxide Plume from Llaima Volcano at the NASA Earth Observatory
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Llaima
