Chile monitors volcanic field after seismic swarm causes 160 quakes in 2 hours
SANTIAGO – A seismic swarm that caused 160 quakes in two hours at the Laguna del Maule volcanic field in central Chile earlier this week has put authorities and citizens on alert.
The volcanic complex, located about 300 km (190 miles) south of the capital near the Argentine border, is a vast 500 square km (193 square miles) area with volcanic domes, cones and lava flows with an estimate 130 volcanic vents.
“These are signs that the volcano is active, it has magma, what’s inside is moving and this can lead to a moderate-sized event in the future,” said Ayaz Alam, a geologist and professor at the University of Santiago of Chile. “But when? We don’t know.”
Alam said seismic swarms in volcanic areas are lower intensity and different from swarms along fault lines because the activity is caused by magma flows rather than tectonic plates crashing into each other.
Daniel Diaz, a geophysicist and volcanologist at the University of Chile, says the area is quite unique since it doesn’t have a single volcanic structure, but dozens around the lake, some of which have formed in the last 2,000 years.
Source: Reuters