Worst Volcanoes Even More Dangerous Than Feared

Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
October 7, 2009

Some of the world's most dangerous volcanoes can erupt much more quickly than scientists had suspected, according to a new study of the massive 2008 eruption of Chile's Chaitén volcano.

Normally scientists can track the seismic rumblings that precede most volcanic eruptions for weeks or even months, as magma in the volcano slowly rises to the surface.

But when townspeople at the base of the Chaitén volcano first felt earthquakes on April 30, 2008, they had only 30 hours to get out before the long-dormant volcano began to blow its top. the rest image