The Volcanism Blog owes many grateful thanks to Werner Keller of the Villarrica and Llaima Volcanoes Visual Observation Project (POVI) in Chile for this picture of the Chaitén volcano lava dome, taken on 3 May 2008, the second day of the current eruption.

Above: the picture, taken from the south of the volcano, shows the currently active vent releasing its plume of ash and gas. The vent is located on the southern flank of the lava dome that occupies the 3.5-kilometre-wide caldera. The image, provided by Werner Keller, is copyright ONEMI.

The images below, taken from Google Earth and depicting the situation before the eruption, show the general situation of the volcano and the surrounding area. North is to the top in both images.

Above: close-up of the Chaitén caldera (from Google Earth). The currently erupting vent is on the lower, southern side of the lava dome, a little south-west of south, which also happens to be where the caldera rim is breached by a river.

Above: Chaitén town is a mere 10 kilometres from the volcano, and the river valley running between the two offers an ideal path for lava flows or pyroclastic surges to follow. The yellow line on the left is the coastline. On the right (i.e. to the east) is the massive volcano Minchinmávida, which was the first suspect when the eruption was reported last week.

 For all our Chaitén coverage: Chaitén << The Volcanism Blog

Information
Global Volcanism Program: Chaitén – summary information for Chaitén (1508-41)
ONEMI, Oficina Nacional de Emergencia – Chilean government emergencies office (Spanish)
SERNAGEOMIN – volcanology information from the Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Chile (Spanish)