Villarrica Volcano, Active stratovolcano in Araucanía Region, Chile.
Villarrica Volcano is an active stratovolcano in the Araucanía Region of southern Chile, rising 2,847 meters (9,340 feet) above sea level. Its summit holds a crater roughly 200 meters (650 feet) wide, from which gas and steam rise continuously.
Spanish settlers founded Villarrica in 1552 and recorded eruptions from 1558 and 1562, when ash fell 200 km away. The settlement was abandoned in 1602 during the Mapuche victories of the Arauco War. In February 1640 a blast heard as far as Yumbel was reported to have burst the hills and made Lake Villarrica overflow.
The Mapuche name Ruka Pillañ means "house of the pillán", the dwelling of a major spirit; a ngen-winkul, guardian spirit of volcanoes, owns the mountain, attended by a court of lesser pillanes. Villarrica is linked to good, in contrast to Llaima, which is tied to evil, and to violet and green, the Moon, the stars, the south and the east.
The Chilean geological service operates a monitoring network of seismic, geodetic, and satellite instruments that provides activity data around the clock. Visitors should check official alert levels before attempting an ascent, as conditions can change quickly.
The crater's lava lake measures 30 to 50 metres across and rises and falls within a pit 50 to 100 metres deep. Villarrica is one of nine volcanoes monitored by the Deep Earth Carbon Degassing Project, which measures its carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions.
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