Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
Last updated on: June 6, 2011 12:33 IST
Image: Plume of ash, estimated 10km high and three mile wide is seen after a volcano erupted in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain
Photographs: Ivan Alvarado/Reuters
The Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain, which has been dormant for decades erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday, sending up an ash more than 10 km high.
It was not immediately clear which of the chain's four volcanoes had erupted because of ash cover and weather conditions. The chain last saw a major eruption in 1960.
It was the latest in a series of volcanic eruptions in Chile in recent years. Chile's Chaiten volcano erupted spectacularly in 2008 for the first time in thousands of years, spewing molten rock and a vast cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere. The ash also swelled a nearby river and ravaged a nearby town of the same name.
Chile has a chain of 2,000 volcanoes, the second highest amount after Indonesia, 500 of which are potentially active.
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Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
Lightning bolts strike around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain near southern Osorno city
Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
Lightning bolts strike around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain. The dormant volcano erupted in south-central Chile, belching ash over 10 km into the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighbouring Argentina, and prompted the government to evacuate several thousand residents
Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
Lightning bolts strike around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain near southern Osorno city
Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
A helicopter flies over smoke and ash rising from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain near Osorno city in south-central Chile
Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
An aerial handout photograph shows smoke and ash from an eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain
Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
A resident stays in front of his home as smoke and ash rise from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain
Spectacular PHOTOS of Chilean volcano eruption
Policemen gather as smoke and ash rise from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain
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