Volcano Journal Entry

Volcano Acting Up in Peru (April 30, 2008)

Peru's Ubinas volcano is acting up again. People living in villages surrounding the volcano say the volcano is once again spewing out thick clouds of ash, smoke, and gas. Residents were warned that water used for drinking and irrigating crops could be contaminated with volcanic ash.

The volcano has had similar eruptions over the past two years. An eruption in 2006 forced people to flee their homes in the town of Querapi. Ash from that eruption sent hundreds of people to the hospital with respiratory problems. It also killed dozens of llamas grazing vegetation covered in ash.

Ubinas is found in the Andes Mountains about 550 miles (900 kilometers) south of the capital Lima. Before the 2006 eruption, the volcano had been mostly quiet since the late-1960s. The cone-shaped volcano has a huge summit caldera, a bowl-shaped depression that resulted from a violent eruption. The volcano looks like its top has been lopped off.

Ubinas is the northernmost of three young volcanoes that sit about 30 miles (50 km) from Peru's main chain of volcanoes. South America's many volcanoes form a long chain that runs north to south in the Andes. These volcanoes result from the subduction of the denser Nazca tectonic plate below the lighter South American plate.