Final Ecuadorian Update!! Eruption!

Above is an Image of the 2011 Tungurahua eruption. The original image

can be found here.

So here we are, it is the end of the year and after much waiting and anticipation,finally there is an eruption in my region.the Ecuadorian volcano Tungurahua roared to life in recent weeks after being dormant for just over two years. It had another strong eruption in 2008. The volcano originally gets its name from the ancient Quechua language.  This eruption sent ash spewing into the atmosphere, to an altitude of around 33,000 feet. This caused the local aviation authority to ground flights.  Luckily the Volcano with is located in southern lowlands, is located in a sparsely populated area.  The government of Ecuador has only had to evacuate around 300 people from this eruption.  Right now the eruption is a fairly small one and hasn’t had many effects on anything but if it grows, then it could possibly endanger the town of Banos which is a popular tourist spot famous for its thermal springs.

its been fun!

Jack

Ecuadorian Update!!

 

The above picture is of Reventador’s large eruption back in 1976.  Although it has had eruptions since this was by far biggest.  Photo credit to Photo Atlas

Recently this week there have been several very interesting things that have been happening in Ecuador.  The first of which is the eruption of Reventador, which is a Stratovolcano that is located around 90 kilometers outside of Quito the capital.    In its fairly young history this volcano has erupted just about every 2-4 years.  It is arguably the most active volcano in the country at this time.  This eruption has not  attracted a lot of attention because it is a fairly common occurrence and the mountain itself is located in a very rural area where very few people live.  This current eruption is small consisting of mainly lava flows. (link is in Spanish)  Sorry for the language barrier but it seems that the Ecuadorians themselves are the only ones paying any heed to this eruption.    Several other things of relatively small importance have occurred over the last week.  It seems that over the last few days, there have been a series of earthquakes that are around a four on the richter scale.  The good news is that no property damage has been caused and there has been no one injured in these recent seismic events. Yet again I apologize for the language barrier I tried to find something in English but to no avail.

Jack Cowie, 2/22/2011