In Brief

Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano Erupts

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Turrialba Volcano
A still taken May 21, 2013, from a webcam trained on Costa Rica's erupting Turrialba volcano. (Image credit: Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica)

Costa Rica's restless Turrailba volcano rumbled to life early Tuesday morning (May 21), spitting ash and steam from its summit and prompting a small-scale evacuation. The small blast started at two fissures in the volcano's West Crater, the same site of earlier eruptions in 2010 and 2012, according to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori). Twenty people and their animals were evacauted due to falling ash, the Associated Press reported.

The 10,958-foot (3,340-meter) Turrialba volcano is now on green alert, the lowest of three alert levels. Seismic tremors, which indicate magma, gas or fluids moving inside the volcano, also rattled the tall peak yesterday, Ovsicori said. The volcano's last big eruption was in 1866.

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Becky Oskin
Becky Oskin
Contributing Writer
Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.