Along with its neighbor Osorno, Calbuco is one of the most active volcanoes of the southern Chilean Andes.
The isolated late-Pleistocene to Holocene andesitic volcano rises to 2003 m south of Lake Llanquihué in the
Chilean lake district.
Guanahuca, Guenauca, Huanauca, and Huanaque, all listed as synonyms of Calbuco are actually synonyms of nearby
Osorno volcano. The 2003-m-high Calbuco is elongated in a SW-NE direction and is capped by a 400-500 m wide
summit crater. The complex evolution of Calbuco included edifice collapse of an intermediate edifice during the late
Pleistocene that produced a 3 cu km debris avalanche that reached the lake.

One of the largest historical eruptions in southern Chile took place from Calbuco in 1893-1894 and concluded
with lava dome emplacement. Subsequent eruptions have enlarged the lava-dome complex in the summit crater.
Global Volcanism Program

April 23rd 2015

The Calbuco volcano has erupted for the first time in 42 years, sending a huge ash cloud over a sparsely populated,
mountainous area in southern Chile.

A red alert was declared following the sudden eruption at around 18.00 local time (21.00 GMT), which occurred about 1,000km (625 miles) south of Santiago, the capital, near the tourist towns of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt,
end of the Pan-American highway.

An evacuation radius of 20km has been established. As night fell, about 4,000 people had so far moved out of the area.

There are no reports of deaths, missing persons or injuries. Residents are urged to evacuate and they are warned
of possible lahars, a mix of water and rock fragments that flow down a volcano’s slopes and river valleys.

September 1996
Strong fumarolic emission from main crater
On the morning of 12 August, the ~250,000 residents of Puerto Montt (35 km SW) and Puerto Varas
(36 km SW) were alarmed by strong fumarolic emissions from the 1.5-km-diameter main crater of Calbuco.
In May 1995 a weak fumarole was noticed and filmed from a helicopter. Prior to that, Calbuco had showed no
signs of activity since a 1972 eruption that lasted for ~4 hours.
Global Volcanism Program