It was the largest volcanic eruption in South America and the ashes reached Russia

The largest volcanic eruption in the history of South America occurred in February 1600surpassed that of Vesuvius and had as its protagonist the Huaynaputina volcano, located in the Andes of southern Peru, which released ashes that reached Canada and even affected the climate and agriculture of Russia and Germany.

The explosion of this volcano, located about 4,850 meters above sea level and still active in the southern region of Moquegua, it exceeded 30 kilometers in height and expelled about 14 cubic kilometers of volcanic material that, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP), It buried at least ten nearby towns and caused the death of about 1,500 people.

«The year 1600 has been recorded for South America as having witnessed one of the most important volcanic explosions in the world, perhaps the largest eruptive process of a volcano, at least in South America,» according to Hernando Tavera, president of the Geophysical Institute of Peru.

Huaynaputina, whose name in Quechua means «young volcano», erupted on February 19, 1600.

Local and global impact

Huaynaputina, whose name in Quechua means «young volcano», erupted on February 19, 1600and directly affected the Peruvian regions of Moquegua, Arequipa and Tacna, as well as other areas of the country and part of the current territory of Chile and Bolivia.

Pyroclastic flows and ash buried nearby towns and also contaminated the important Tambo River, while large cities like Arequipa and Moquegua They were covered by a blanket of ash and smoke.

This phenomenon continued for at least 30 days and the chronicles of the time indicate that Arequipa «was in darkness and they could not see the sun or the stars, they could not distinguish between day and night,» Tavera commented.

At a global level, the clearest evidence of its impact has been found in the forests of Canada, but there are also chronicles that describe that the famines that occurred in Russia between 1601 and 1603 «would have been related, because global temperatures They decreased up to three degrees in some areas«.

In that sense, it is considered that it caused the drop in temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere and the famine in Russia, by altering the atmosphere with the expelled pyroclastic material, in addition to reducing the agricultural production in Germany.

Explosion greater than that of Vesuvius

Tavera explained that «if volcanic eruptions are measured with a scale of 0 to 8, the Huaynaputina explosion had a scale of number 6» and the fumarole that it emitted at the critical moment allowed it to reach «the upper atmosphere zone.»

The explosion left a large crater on a plateau 4,200 meters above sea level and was larger than that of the famous Vesuvius volcano (Video capture).

This caused the volcanic material, basically composed of ash, to remain for more than a year «circling the world» without any problem.»

The explosion left a large crater on a plateau 4,200 meters above sea level and was higher that of the famous volcano Vesuvius, which in the year 79 BC reached a scale of 5 and destroyed Roman cities such as Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Similar to that of the also famous Krakatoa, it had such an impact that four centuries later pyroclastic residues have been discovered on trees in Canada which, according to research, come from the explosion in the distant Andes of South America.

The volcano «is in full activity and with greater presence since 2016, registering at least one earthquake a day.»

«When they have cut down trees they have found that in some rings there is volcanic ash that, after dating, corresponds to this volcano,» Tavera said.

The volcano today

«I think that for us, having collected the greatest amount of historical information allows us to have a clear idea of ​​what the scenario could be for volcanoes that may be similar,» Tavera said when referring to the importance of research on the great eruption more than four centuries ago.

The IGP, an organization created almost a hundred years ago, currently studies «the dynamic behavior» of Huaynaputina through real-time monitoring and surveillance by the National Volcanological Center (CENVUL), installed in Arequipa.

The majestic Huaynaputina volcano in calm.

The volcano «is in full activity and with greater presence since 2016, registering at least an earthquake a day«, detailed the organization, while Tavera added that now it is possible to «make a fairly accurate forecast of an eruptive process», which would allow «the population to be evacuated and not have so much mortality when these dangers occur.»

Currently, the IGP maintains intense scientific work, which in addition to dedicating itself to «earth sciences», through the study of soils, earthquakes and volcanoes, also allows it to do work on the oceans, landslides, river flooding, the upper atmosphere and astronomy.

EFE Agency.

GML