Wednesday Whatzits

This week’s edition of Wednesday Whatzits could have been called “Miércoles Materia” as all the updates are for South American volcano. Enjoy!

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nTungurahua in Ecuador

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• INGEOMINAS in Colombia is reporting that Nevado del Huila experienced 343 earthquakes over the past week, suggesting that something is brewing at the volcano. This has been accompanied by gas emissions and ash from the fractured dome. The Volcano Observatory in Popayán mentions that more than half of the earthquakes are related to magma moving into the system. Huila remains at Level III (Yellow) alert.

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• Ubinas in Peru is still having explosive events according to settlers living near the active volcano. They are also having respiratory problems due to the “high amounts of ash” that Ubinas is currently erupting. The volcano is being kept at Yellow alert status as the seismic energy being released is low, but the increased fumarolic activity and the explosions suggest a larger eruption might be in the cards.

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• Finally, Tungurahua in Ecuador continues to erupt ash onto the neighboring villages. Over the last week, the volcano has had eleven explosions. The article in El Comercio is refreshing in the sense that they talk to the local villagers about the problems they’ve run into with daily life near a volcano. My favorite part is Carlos Rosero, a farmer, mentioning “no se cansa de pedir a Dios para que no erupcione el volcán” … more or less, you never get tired asking God for no eruption.

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