Villarrica

Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes, rising above the lake and town of the same name, 750 km south of Santiago. It is also known as Rucapillán, a Mapuche word meaning "great spirit's house". It is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes that trend northwest to southeast obliquely perpendicular to the Andean chain along the Mocha-Villarrica Fault Zone, and along with Quetrupillán and the Chilean portion of Lanín, are protected within Villarrica National Park. Guided ascents are popular during summer months.

Villarrica, with its lava of basaltic-andesitic composition, is one of a small number worldwide known to have an active lava lake within its crater. The volcano usually generates strombolian eruptions with ejection of incandescent pyroclasts and lava flows. Rainfall plus melted snow and glacier ice can cause massive lahars, such as during the eruptions of 1964 and 1971.