Two Large South American Volcano's Rumbling Back to Life - Sign of things to come?

From Physorg.com.

Officials in southern Colombia have issued a code orange alert for the newly-active Galeras volcano which they said could erupt in a matter of days or weeks, according to the state-run Geological and Mining Institute.

The Galeras Volcano

Galeras (Urcunina among the 16th-century indigenous people) is an Andean stratovolcano in the Colombian department of Nariño, near the departmental capital Pasto. Its summit rises 4,276 metres (14,029 ft) above sea level. It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest, with its first historical eruption being recorded on December 7, 1580. A 1993 eruption killed nine people, including six scientists who had descended into the volcano's crater to sample gases.It is currently the most active volcano in Colombia.

From the main article:

Authorities said they are continuing to monitor the nearby Authorities said they are continuing to monitor the nearby Huila volcano, also on orange alert, where sizeable volcanic activity also has been detected in recent weeks.volcano, also on orange alert, where sizeable volcanic activity also has been detected in recent weeks.

Nevado del Huila

Nevado del Huila (in English (IPA) /nɛˈvɑː.do dɛl ˈwi:.la/), at 5,365 metres (17,602 ft), is the highest volcano in Colombia,[1] located in Huila Department. After being dormant for more than 500 years, the volcano showed heavy signs of activity in 2007 and 2008. As of February 20, 2007, there were more than 7000 "minor" seismic events, and a high state of alert was in place for the departments of Cauca, Huila, Caldas and Valle del Cauca. The volcano erupted twice in April 2007, once in April 2008 and again in November 2008. Any eruption would affect the small villages around the volcano, mostly Paez, Cauca, where their habitants still have in memory the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano and the destruction of Armero.
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CNN report of a previous eruption of Hulia.


You can keep up to date with the Global Volcanism Project

Which seems to show a whole heap of South American activity:

New Activity/Unrest: | Chaitén, Southern Chile | Ebeko, Paramushir Island | Kliuchevskoi, Central Kamchatka (Russia) | Mayon, Luzon | Nevado del Huila, Colombia | Reventador, Ecuador | Soufrière Hills, Montserrat
Ongoing Activity: | Batu Tara, Komba Island (Indonesia) | Colima, México | Dukono, Halmahera | Fuego, Guatemala | Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka | Kilauea, Hawaii (USA) | Pacaya, Guatemala | Rabaul, New Britain | Sakura-jima, Kyushu | Santa María, Guatemala | Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)

The site has all the information regarding these volcanoes.

Just some more cheerful news for ATS!

Peace, Kiwifoot

An easier resource to see the activity is at RSOE EDIS.

Link .. RSOE

Seems all the world's volcanoes are quite active now.

Would it have anything to do with the sun's solar cycles or sunspot activity? Maybe they are related on some level.

A good job Chaiten isnt on the list (yet) with its LavaDome still capped at the peak, any future eruption here would be cataclysmic on about the Same Scale as Montserrat..if not larger.

The 2 Volcanoes on watch now are as a result of magma movement below S.America convectionally rising through the Convergent zone, The Earthquakes in the past 2 months have weakened the faults in the crust making movement of this Magma easier to the surface and thus any eruption would be more lava-type around the Caldera than Pyroclastic as a result of the gases being "stored" for any duration of time.

Originally posted by Tayesin
An easier resource to see the activity is at RSOE EDIS.

Link .. RSOE

Seems all the world's volcanoes are quite active now.

Thanks for that, that's a better site!

I guess all the recent earthquake activity has something to do with it?

Originally posted by ROBL240
A good job Chaiten isnt on the list (yet) with its LavaDome still capped at the peak, any future eruption here would be cataclysmic on about the Same Scale as Montserrat..if not larger.

The 2 Volcanoes on watch now are as a result of magma movement below S.America convectionally rising through the Convergent zone, The Earthquakes in the past 2 months have weakened the faults in the crust making movement of this Magma easier to the surface and thus any eruption would be more lava-type around the Caldera than Pyroclastic as a result of the gases being "stored" for any duration of time.

Dude, you seem to know your stuff, nice!

So Chaiten is the one to look out for, in your opinion?

Originally posted by born2BWild
Would it have anything to do with the sun's solar cycles or sunspot activity? Maybe they are related on some level.

I'll get back to you on that one, I'm no expert at all.

Maybe ROBL240 can help, he seems in the know!

Originally posted by Tayesin
An easier resource to see the activity is at RSOE EDIS.

Link .. RSOE

Seems all the world's volcanoes are quite active now.

Alot of the volcanic activity listed on the map is a good few years old.

Just to put your mind at ease like

Yep Chaiten would be the more explosive with the Cap in place, although Galeras being a Stratovolcano does have a long history of having Pyroclastic eruptions (including one small-scale blast which killed a number of Scientists studying the inner crater during a "quiet" period.)

Galeras would also produce Lahaars as the town on its flank is built upon centuries of Lahaar movement, another feature of Volcanic landscape within the S.American landscape including around Popocatepyl where Mexico City is build near.