Chilean eruption shows no sign of abating

A towering nine-kilometre cloud of ash and rocks continue to emanate from the Puyehue volcano in Chile.

Mount Puyehue shook itself awake on June 4 for the first time in 50 years.

The eruption itself is awe-inspiring. Volcanoes in Chile send out more ash because the magma is thicker and rises more slowly to the surface.

Chile’s chain of 2,000 volcanoes is the world’s second-largest after Indonesia. This is the latest eruption in Chile in recent years and it shows no sign of stabilising.

And that is bad news for air travellers. Ash in the atmosphere means flights have been grounded as far away as Western Australia.

Services to New Zealand and Tasmania have been affected while airports in Argentina and Uruguay have also been closed.

An erupting volcano in Iceland last year led to 100,000 flights being cancelled, mainly in Europe, at a cost of 1.2 billion euros.

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