Llaima Volcano

The Llaima is a volcano located in the La Araucanía Region (Chile). With a relatively regular and symmetrical conical shape, classified as a stratovolcano, Llaima has an altitude of 3,195 m. It is located in the foothills of La Frontera, 72 km northeast of the city of Temuco, from where it is visible.

The name comes from the Mapuche language, although there is some discrepancy about its meaning because for some it means "drain" or "ditch", in allusion to a large crack that appeared near the crater in the 1873 eruption, or according to other translations., "veins of blood" or "widower." The Llaima is considered one of the most active in the country and in all of South America, with 23 major volcanism events during the 20th century. , the last major one in 1994. On January 1, 2008 it erupted at 6:20 p.m. Chilean time, being the first eruption of the century XXI.

It is part of the Conguillío National Park, which stands out for its araucaria forests, which surround the numerous slag heaps that surround the volcanic cone. The scenic beauty of Llaima has contributed to turning the area into an important tourist destination. On its western slope is the Las Araucarias ski center.

Toponymy

The name of the volcano is, in reality, its second baptism because initially the Mapuches called it Chañel or "finger", due to its pointed shape, with a height greater than 3195 m above sea level. n. m. It is estimated that it is currently 30 to 50 m higher, after the 1876 eruption released 8,000 cubic kilometers of magma and pyroclastic flows that traveled more than 9,000 kilometers when the cone collapses, changes its morphology and is given its new name., Llaima, which in Mapudungun means ditch, as a result of the fissure it obtained after the previous named eruption.

Geography

The Llaima volcano is located between the communes of Melipeuco and Vilcún, Province of Cautín, and the commune of Curacautín in the Province of Malleco, Region of La Araucanía, at coordinates 38°41′45″S, 71°43 ′54″W, being one of the hills that make up the western edge of the Main Cordillera of the Andes. The volcano is located within the Conguillío national park, administered by CONAF.

The summit of the volcano is about 76 kilometers northeast of the city of Temuco, regional capital. At its feet are cities and tourist towns such as Curacautín, Cherquenco and Melipeuco. Access to the volcano can be done through three main routes, from the Pan-American Route towards Curacautín to the northwest of the volcano, through Victoria or Lautaro; from the Pan-American Route through Cajón towards Cherquenco to the west of Llaima, and from Temuco towards Melipeuco, to access the southern sector of the volcano. The Curacautín and Melipeuco routes correspond to the international routes that connect the region with Argentina through the Pino Hachado and Icalma passes, respectively.

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General morphology

The Llaima volcano is one of the most important and voluminous mountains in the southern sector of the Andes mountain range, between latitudes 37º and 46º South. The altitude of the mountain rises to 3,195 m above sea level. n. m., with a prominence of 1,819 m over the nearby summits. The height of the volcanic cone is approximately 2400 m from its base, located at approximately 740 m above sea level. n. m.

The volcano has two summits, the one in the northern sector being more prominent and being separated by a pass approximately 1 km long from Pichillaima (from Mapudungún, small Llaima), the southern summit that reaches 2,920 m above sea level. n. m. The crater of the volcano is located on the highest summit, with a width of 350 m in diameter in which a fumarole is constantly present as a sign of the volcano's activity. At the southern summit there are remains of a cinder cone nested in a larger one, which are open to the southeast from where weak fumaroles emerge.

Various glaciers cover the western, southwestern and eastern flanks. The largest is the western and southwestern one, which reaches an area of 19 km². On the eastern flank, for its part, 4 glacial tongues cover an area of 10 km². A thick layer of pyroclastic material has covered the ice, especially towards the eastern sector, which has partially stopped the ablation of the glaciers. In the winter season (in the southern hemisphere, between July and September), snow covers the volcanic surface from at least 1,000 m above sea level. n. m.

The snowmelt is drained by some minor rivers and estuaries radially through the basins of the Captrén and Quepe rivers (tributaries of the Cautín river) and the Allipén partially. Of these drainages, the Trufultruful River stands out, which forms a series of lakes dammed by solidified lava such as Lake Verde, Arcoíris and Conguillío.

Geology

The Llaima is a volcano classified as a stratovolcano, consisting of a basal structure in the shape of a shield volcano, which is surrounded by about 40 adventitious scoria cones, which are oriented in a northeast direction according to a curved alignment of approximately 29 km long that runs from the southwest to the northeast slope of the volcano. The lava spills produced by the Llaima have been emitted within a radius of 30 kilometers from the summit, which forms an irregular surface of about 700 km² and a volume of 400 km³. The base of the volcano is elliptical, whose major axis in a north-south direction is 30 km and the minor axis is 25 km from east to west.

It is estimated that the Llaima volcanic activity reached its most important development during the Upper Pleistocene and part of the Holocene, depositing its emitted products on Tertiary granitoids and the volcanic complexes of Hirrampe-Melo and Sierra Nevada, of Pleistocene character. Although it has not been possible to determine the beginning of volcanic activity, the oldest traces of it show erosive effects of the last glaciation. This would imply that the original products must have been emitted after the penultimate glaciation, dating them to a maximum age of about 250,000 years (Middle or Late Pleistocene).

Thanks to morphostructural, geochemical, stratigraphic and lithological analyses, three evolutionary units of the volcano have been recognized: an ancient unit, another fissure unit and the main cone (or building), to which are added the layers of pyroclastic deposits accumulated during several years. Above the early post-glacial lavas of the ancient unit, there are extensive pyroclastic deposits of the andesitic-basaltic type, which give rise to the fissure unit, and which contain remains of charred wood dating back 13,200 years. Due to its large volume, it is believed that this deposit was formed in a caldera produced by a collapse of the main building.

The Llaima rocks are mainly formed by basaltic to andesitic-basaltic lavas and pyroclasts, with silica contents that vary between 50% and 58% SiO2. However, there are pumice deposits with a dacitic composition (65% SiO₂) and that are associated with a Plinian eruption. The rocks are porific, composed of phenocrysts of plagioclase, olivine and clinopyroxene, with geochemical characteristics very similar to those of nearby volcanoes such as Antuco, Villarrica and Osorno.

History

The name "Llaima" It is of recent origin, according to various testimonies. The first records of the Spanish conquistadors during the XVI century recorded the volcano under the name "Imperial", because it is visible from the La Imperial fort, in the current commune of Carahue. Subsequently, the officer Francisco Subercaseaux Latorre, who toured the area during the Occupation of Araucanía during the late 19th century, states that the volcano would have previously been called "Chanel" or "Chañel" by the indigenous people, which in Mapudungun means "finger" due to its previous pointed shape. According to the same account, the shape of the volcano changed significantly during the explosive eruption of 1876, "its cone collapsing towards the north after having released 90 cubic kilometers of magma from its main crater and pyroclastic flows. who traveled more than 80 kilometers. After this event, the Mapuches of the area renamed it as "Llaima".

According to the same testimony, the destruction that occurred during said event was notable: "...up to 30 leagues (120 to 175 km depending on which league is being referred to) sand and lava fell around...many rucas were destroyed and their inhabitants burned to death in the seas of hot lava". Likewise, Subercaseaux reviews a previous episode, which occurred in 1864, during which the volcano would have released a column of ash that he estimated at 3,000 m above the crater.

Due to its prominence, the Llaima has been an important center for the historical development of this sector of La Frontera. According to tradition, the famous warrior Calfucurá, conqueror of the Argentine pampas, was born on the slopes of the Llaima. During the military campaigns of the Occupation, the Chilean Army installed Fort Llaima in the nearby area in 1883, being moved from its original location in 1887.

The first known ascent was made by the mountaineers Carlos and Augusto Rimbach, in 1909.

Records of volcanic activity

Since 2003, there has been a historical record of 50 eruptive episodes of varying magnitude. In the first three centuries after the conquest of Chile by the Spanish Empire, the volcano remained deep in independent Mapuche territory, so Western chronicles only recorded news of the most catastrophic eruptions. These great events, in which the Llaima erupted simultaneously with other volcanoes in the area, are also remembered in the oral tradition of the Mapuche people, as disasters that forced them to undertake large migrations.

There are four major joint eruptions known during the period described:

• 1640: joint eruption with the Villarrica, Quetrupillán, Lanín and Mocho-Choshuenco.
• 1750: the simultaneous eruption of 1640 is repeated.
• 1765: new joint eruption of the 5 volcanoes.
• 1790: The Llaima made a joint eruption with the Villarrica, Puyehue and Osorno.

Starting from the first campaigns of the Occupation of Araucanía, carried out at the end of the 19th century, the monitoring of Llaima's volcanic activity is more detailed. In 1864 a Vesuvian-type eruption was recorded, followed by the 1876 eruption described above and which completely modified the morphology of the cone. A new eruption occurred on June 24, 1887, which forced the transfer of Fort Llaima by about 4 km, after the advice of the local Mapuches.

In the XX century, new eruptions occurred on May 1, 1903 and in February 1908. In the case In the latter, an avalanche killed a woman who was on her way to Lonquimay. The eruptions were repeated in 1917, 1922, 1927, 1930 and 1937, when a new avalanche killed two people in the town of Santa María de Llaima. In 1941, a new event of volcanic activity was recorded, followed by a major eruption in March 1945 that caused an avalanche in the Colico sector.

In January 1956, an eruption that lasted more than 12 hours left one dead and significant material damage in the nearest towns. Torrents of lava advanced for several kilometers during the eruption recorded on February 18 and 19, 1957, leaving hundreds of hectares of land unused. Minor events were detected in 1960, 1964, 1974, May 1994 and between April 9 and 11, 2003. Between May and June 2007, the increase in volcanic activity forced the ONEMI authorities to decree a "yellow alert" in the zone.

Eruptive process 2007-until now

Eruption of 2008

On January 1, 2008, a new Llaima volcanic eruption occurred. The first records of an increase in volcanic activity occurred around 6:00 p.m. local time. Authorities evacuated about 140 tourists and CONAF officials from the Conguillío national park, and some residents of the nearby town of Melipeuco moved to Cunco. The first landslides were recorded towards the slopes towards Argentine territory, while the fumaroles were visible up to 250 kilometers away. The ashes reached the southwest of the province of Neuquén in Argentina, mainly the city of Zapala, forcing the suspension of flights from the Presidente Perón International Airport.

The eruption varied in intensity over the following days, reducing its power in the following days and regaining some strength the following week, continuing from time to time until the end of February, when the volcano ends its activity. Exactly seven months later, on July 1, its activity resumed, for which a yellow alert was declared. Later on July 2, a red alert was declared, as the activity of the massif intensified.

Eruption of 2009

During that year the eruption was calm but very unstable, since the eruptions lasted hours or days. For this reason, they kept the Green Alert level 2 zone in place by OVDAS. The volcano presented continuous steam releases resulting from a lava focus in the main cone.

In the first week of December of this year, a Yellow Alert was declared by ONEMI and SERNAGEOMIN (OVDAS), as a result of a background tremor that appeared at the end of November, that is, there were lava flows and a high probability of that within the next few weeks an eruption would occur.

Abnormal post-earthquake seismic activity

After the 2010 Earthquake, the massif began to show abnormal seismic activity characterized by weak bottom tremors lasting 20 minutes, the Southern Andes Volcanological Observatory together with ONEMI decreed a yellow alert, as it may be the beginning of the reactivation of the eruptive cycle. Anomalous activity has also occurred in the Villarrica Volcano. SERNAGEOMIN on Friday, April 23, raises the yellow alert level from level 3 to level 4 due to seismic activity increasing in quantity and intensity, as well as an increase in RSAM. There is also concern because the cone is 100% obstructed, so this can complicate the situation and instead of being a Strombolian eruption, it could be a large explosive eruption. It is currently experiencing a decrease in its seismic activity but SERNAGEOMIN lowers the alert to yellow alert level 3 since there is the possibility of an eruption in 1 week, 1 month, 1 year; since the volcano is very unpredictable in the development of this process and almost most of the eruptions that have occurred during this process are surprising and without giving any indication whether it was going to enter or not.

Crack in the main crater

At the end of September 2011, underground noises and earthquakes began to be felt around the towns near the volcano, which led to a crack in the main crater of the volcano. ONEMI ruled out the emergency situation. In the words of Freddy Rivas, director of ONEMI of La Araucanía: There are no fissures, but what there is is a break in the rock. Yesterday a seismic movement of 3.3 degrees was recorded and, subsequently, there have been no more movements.

Cultural impact

Mapuche mythology

For the Mapuche, like all volcanoes, the Llaima was a place with strong supernatural connotations, to which the adjective sacred is applied. Within their worldview, the bowels and calderas of the Llaima are governed by a main spirit of nature, a ngen, which is guardian and owner of the volcano. This type of ngen is better known as ngen-winkul or spirit of volcanoes and hills. Along with this tutelary presence, a court of pillanes would live in the Llaima, minor spirits in relation to the ngen, but extremely powerful.

According to the testimonies collected by anthropology, the Llaima and the spirits that inhabit it occupy a very specific place in the Mapuche worldview. Its symbolism is clear: it is associated with evil, in opposition to the Villarrica volcano (Rucapillán in the Mapuche language), which is considered the "good volcano". While Villarrica inspires beneficial dreams, the Llaima transmits bad omens to the sleepers.

The Llaima is symbolically related to other elements affiliated with evil; the color red, the sun, the cars that fall from the sky (cherufe), the north, and with a cosmic region called Minche Mapu, a negative underworld in which he lives. a couple of major gods of Evil.

Mapuche oral narrative

In a passage at the beginning of the traditional Mapuche story of Curiñancu (the black harrier) and Chalwa (the salmon), the young Curiñancu spends an initiatory season on the slopes of Llaima, after being cured and saved by the puma (< i>pangui). Curiñancu had fallen from the sky while he was learning to fly. When the puma saves him, Curiñancu decides to become a land warrior, building a stone fortress on the side of the volcano and learning from the wisdom of the other animals. The toad teaches him the secret of jumping from him; the snake, its way of walking. The spider weaves warrior pants for him. In the solitudes of the Llaima, Cariñancu develops and becomes strong, until he is ready to continue his path, which will lead him to become a disciple of the black carpenter (rere), and, finally, to live his adventure with salmon.

Literature

In the novel Umbral, the writer Juan Emar, who lived long periods of isolation in the neighboring commune of Vilcún, includes a passage in which the character Onofre Borneo is introduced to the infernal underworlds through the Llaima crater. Borneo is accompanied on this trip by a herald of the underworld, a certain Palemón de Costamota. Emar's surreal narration seems to be a revision of Dante's journey to hell, guided by Virgil, from The Divine Comedy.

Pablo Neruda remembers in his memoir I confess that I have lived: "Then the floods came, which took away the towns where the poorest people lived, next to the river. The earth also shook, trembling. Other times, a plume of terrible light appeared in the mountain range: the Llaima volcano woke up.

The poet Jorge Tellier, in a poem from his book For a ghost town, invokes in his memory the threatening presence of the volcano:

"Inveterate night owl / I contemplate the moon the same as in 1945 / reddened by the eruption of Llaima. / The same one that watched from the attic / while she was reading 'Les Misérables' like now. and the / Hachette Almanac".