Most people will associate volcanoes with Iceland, with memories of grounded aeroplane flights still fresh in their minds, and I for one must confess that I didn’t know that Chile also has several active volcanoes. Dave McGarvie, an honorary research fellow at Lancaster University, is an expert of volcanology (or vulcanology – it can be spelt either way), and four years after his update on the situation in Iceland, he returned via our Zoom link to Fulwood Sports Club to present his follow-up talk on Chile, where the best known volcanos include Quetrupilliân and Villarrica.
Vulcanus is the Latin name for the Roman god of fire and metalworking. The word is of Etruscan in origin, but of unknown meaning.
Planning a trip to a volcano involves a significant level of care for the professional volcanologist. Experts such as Dave pay very close attention to official information and volcano alert levels, as these describe the current level of activity and ‘unrest’ in a volcano, and its eruption history. Although he has retired from his academic work, Dave still operates as an expert witness in court cases where, for example, people on tour holidays have been injured by falling rock and lava.
“Volcanoes are not just normal mountains you climb any time you want to – you need to think carefully about going,” he said. “There are inherent risks and dangers. Some volcanoes are particularly unpredictable and those are best avoided. People may be thrilled by the idea of being close to an erupting volcano, but there are plenty of fantastic things to see without putting your life in danger.”
In 2015, an estimated 3,400 people were evacuated from the area around Villarrica, including parts of the nearby towns of Pucon and Conaripe. Authorities issued a red alert and sealed off roads surrounding the volcano, located in a tourist enclave outside the city of Twemuco.
Volcanism in Chile is a continuous process that has had a strong influence on landscape, geology and economy. Volcanism continuously renews the landscape with lava flows and lava plateaux. “Conical volcanoes go through a cycle of building and collapse, which is normal. Some have gone through three or four of these cycles in the last 10,000 years.”
Climbing Quetrupillán had been “quite a logistical enterprise.” The only way up is on foot or – when loaded up with rock samples, a tent and enough food for a couple of weeks – on horseback. Today, things have changed. ‘We now have satellite phones and thorough risk assessments, which is all for the better. There are students who want the challenge of climbing 4,000 feet up a mountain, but there are other interesting problems to work on that don’t require much physical effort.”
In 2019, White Island, an active stratovolcano (made up of alternating layers of hardened lava) in New Zealand’s north eastern Bay of Plenty region, erupted explosively. Out of 47 people on the island at the time, 22 people died, either from the explosion or from injuries sustained in the immediate aftermath. A further 25 were seriously injured, with the majority needing intensive care for severe burns. Experts identified the event as a phreatic eruption, a release of steam and volcanic gases that caused an explosion, launching rock and ash into the air.
McGarvie reported a downturn in the number of people booking holidays in the Hawaiian islands specifically to watch erupting volcanoes. In 2018, Kilauea – the most active volcano in the country – erupted, changing the big island forever. Some 700 homes were destroyed.
In some cases nearer home, fact and fiction are more difficult to establish. In answer to a question from our chairman elect Andrew Shorthouse, who lived in the area as a child, Dave confirmed that many of the craggy rocks of Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, are of volcanic origin and are very old, dating back 600 million years to Precambrian times. Let’s hope the Leicestershire locals are given enough warning to escape up the M1 to safer ground, should the need arise.