CASE STUDY: CHAITEN, CHILE

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CASE STUDY: CHAITEN, CHILE VOLCANO (LEDC)

Location:

  • South-east of Chile's coast. The town of Chaiten situated 10km south-west of the town of Chaiten (population 4,200)
  • LEDC.

Causes:

  • Chaiten is very close to the Andes mountain range.
  • The Nazca plate was being subducted underneath the South American plate.
  • Chaiten was directly below the Benioff zone.

Facts:

  • Consisted mainly of Rhyolitic lava.
  • It produced numerous plumes, pyroclastic flows, minor earthquakes and lahars. A new lava dome was built on the north side of the old one. 
  • The ash cloud was up to 17km high. 
  • It was a caldera volcano- a central spine of lava was pushed out the new dome, but likely to collapse.

Social Impacts:

  • As a result, Lahars, flooding and volcanic landslides were present on top

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