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Explanation: Volcano Tungurahua sometimes erupts spectacularly. Pictured above, molten rock so hot it glows visibly pours down the sides of the 5,000-meter high Tungurahua, while a cloud of dark ash is seen being ejected toward the left. Wispy white clouds flow around the lava-lit peak, while a star-lit sky shines in the distance. The above image was captured in 2006 as ash fell around the adventurous photographer. Located in Ecuador, Tungurahua has become active roughly every 90 years since for the last 1,300 years.

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano shot columns of ash miles into the air on Wednesday, as officials ordered the evacuation of 3,000 villagers living near its slopes. Some 1,000 villagers from the western flanks of the 16,575-foot volcano fled their homes for shelters at dawn, said Roberto Rodriguez, director of Civil Defense. He said 11 families who refused to leave, fearing looters, were removed by force. "We've taken all of the precautions possible," President Rafael Correa told reporters on Wednesday, adding that a state of emergency already in place in the area will be extended for 60 days. Juan...

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano is poised for a major eruption, a volcanologist said Wednesday. Authorities last week evacuated 10 villages from its western slopes as a precaution. Patricia Mothes, a U.S. expert on volcanoes, said the 16,575-foot volcano, located 80 miles southeast of Quito, "is preparing to generate, in days or weeks, a great eruption." She said that could mean pyroclastic flows — blasts of volcanic material "that descend at high speeds and burn everything in their way." Tungurahua, which has been active since 1999, has been freeing a high level of energy since Dec. 22, Mothes told...

QUITO, Ecuador - August 17, 2006 - A volcanic eruption in Ecuador's Andes mountains destroyed three villages, killed at least one man and left more than 60 others missing, the mayor of a village on the volcano's slope said Thursday. One body was recovered after the overnight eruption of lava from Tungurahua, in the country's high Andes, and four others were believed to be under the rubble, Penipe Mayor Juan Salazar said. Salazar told Channel 4 television that the villages of Chilibu, Choglontuz and Palitagua "no longer exist. Everything is wiped out." "This is an indescribable catastrophe," Salazar said. "The...

QUITO (AFP) - Tungurahua, a volcano in southern Ecuador, erupted for a fourth day, burying thousands of farms in ash and threatening to "boil over" and dump lava on a nearby town, officials said. Explosions were heard for days, said Geophysical Institute engineer Pablo Samaniego, who compared the volcanic activity to a "pot of milk waiting to boil over at any moment". Lava threatens to run downhill, toward Banos, with 15,000 residents, he said. "This has happened before and could affect Banos," he said. "The town will have to make its decisions" on whether to evacuate," he said. So far,...

QUITO, Ecuador - Thousands of Ecuadorean villagers have fled their homes on the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano since it began erupting lava and toxic gases, authorities said Saturday. No injuries have been reported, but some 3,700 people have abandoned their homes in half a dozen hamlets since Friday, the Civil Defense said. "There have been no victims, but all the vegetation has died and we have lost cattle," said Juan Salazar, mayor of Penipe County, which includes two villages where 300 families have been forced to evacuate. In May, the volcano, located 85 miles south of the capital of...

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano is emitting its loudest and most frequent explosions since it rumbled back to life nearly seven years ago after eight decades of inactivity, scientists said. The volcano registered 133 explosions of vapor and gas between Wednesday and Friday, Ecuador's Geophysics Institute reported. But the increased activity was not necessarily a sign of an imminent eruption, said Hugo Yepes, the institute's director. "It has been rumbling constantly in the last six years, always registering explosions, emitting ash," he told The Associated Press. "What's happening now is that since May 10, we have had times in...

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week, June 30 - July 6, 2002 Volcano Tungurahua in Ecuador.