Mount Hudson's 1991 eruption provides Holocene palaeoclimatic insights

A study of the 1991 eruption of Mt Hudson, a volcano located in southern Chile, was carried out using NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and Landsat-7 "Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+)" imagery. It investigated the plume movements and dispersal trajectories of the volcanic material ejected during this eruption and identified the potential air-fall regions for Mt Hudson's Holocene eruptions. For validation purposes, the satellite imagery was combined with field data and isopach distributions of the August 1991 eruption and two Holocene eruptions, dated at 3600 BP and 6700 BP. The elliptical isopach distributions and the well-defined dispersal axes of the 6700 BP and August 1991 events indicate the existence of stable wind conditions at the time of the eruptions. In contrast, the 3600 BP event presents a circular isopach distribution, reflecting the dispersal effects of variable winds. This contribution will provide further insights regarding the palaeoclimatic conditions existing at the time of the studied eruptions, and also aid in the selection of field locations for future volcanological studies in southern Patagonia.