Brilliantly colored clouds, bolts of lightning and columns of fiery ash and lava adorn photos taken near the scene of Volcano Calbuco's eruption Wednesday evening.
The evacuation of the surrounding region had affected at least 4,000 residents as of Wednesday afternoon. But as dusk fell on Southern Chile, cameras were there to capture the eruption's majesty in the fading light.
Advertisement
Chile is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 25,000 mile horseshoe arc of volcanic and seismic hotspots. Calbuco last erupted more than five decades ago, according to Reuters.
Watch a time-lapse of the eruption here.
MARTIN BERNETTI via Getty Images
View from Frutillar, southern Chile, showing volcanic lightnings and lava spewed from the Calbuco volcano on April 23, 2015. Chile's Calbuco volcano erupted on Wednesday, spewing a giant funnel of ash high into the sky near the southern port city of Puerto Montt and triggering a red alert. Authorities ordered an evacuation for a 10-kilometer (six-mile) radius around the volcano, which is the second in southern Chile to have a substantial eruption since March 3, when the Villarrica volcano emitted a brief but fiery burst of ash and lava.
DAVID CORTES SEREY via Getty Images
This view from Puerto Varas, southern Chile, shows a high column of ash and lava spewing from the Calbuco volcano, on April 23, 2015.
DIEGO MAIN via Getty Images
View from Puerto Montt, southern Chile, of a high column of ash and lava spewing from the Calbuco volcano, on April 22, 2015.
Advertisement
Ivan Konar / LatinContent / Getty Images
The Calbuco volcano erupts on April 22, 2015 near Puerto Varas in the Llanquihue Region, Chile. The volcano, considered as one of the most potentially dangerous in Chile, erupted for the first time in more than 42 years.
STR via Getty Images
View from Puerto Varas, southern Chile, of a high column of ash and lava spewing from the Calbuco volcano, on April 22, 2015.
Ivan Konar / LatinContent / Getty Images
The Calbuco volcano erupts on April 22, 2015, near Puerto Varas in the Llanquihue Region, Chile.
Advertisement
DIEGO MAIN via Getty Images
View from Puerto Montt, southern Chile, of a high column of ash and lava spewing from the Calbuco volcano, on April 22, 2015.
GIORDANA SCHMIDT via Getty Images
View from Puerto Varas, southern Chile, of a high column of ash and lava spewing from the Calbuco volcano, on April 22, 2015.
GIORDANA SCHMIDT via Getty Images
View from Puerto Varas, southern Chile, of a high column of ash and lava spewing from the Calbuco volcano, on April 22, 2015.
Advertisement
FRANCISCO RAMOS MEJIA via Getty Images
View from the Nahuel Huapi lake, province of Rio Negro, 1570 km southwest of Buenos Aires, of a menacing cloud from the Calbuco volcano in neighboring Chile, on April 22, 2015.