Earth and sky in electrifying battle of the elements

TWO spectacular forces of nature produced an incredible brew in the skies of Chile yesterday as a volcanic eruption met a lightning storm.Tonnes of dust and ash from the eruption of the Chaiten volcano poured into the night sky just as an electric storm was passing overhead. The resulting collision created an extraordinary sight as lightning flickered around the dust cloud in the fiery, orange glow of the volcano. The eruption was all the more spectacular because the Chaiten volcano, 1300km south of Santiago, has been dormant for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The volcano, whose eruption has forced the evacuation of 4000 nearby residents, is part of a string of volcanoes running along the so-called Ring of Fire - an arc of active volcanoes extending north from the west coast of the Americas across the Alaskan-Siberian rim and south to Indonesia. Chile hosts the second-most active volcanoes in the world behind Indonesia. The Chaiten volcano began erupting on Friday. But the violence of the event increased dramatically yesterday as dust, gas and lava blasted fiercely out of the volcano, spreading ash across the region. Residents living closest to the eruption were forced to use facemasks to avoid inhaling the ash, which is up to 15cm deep on the ground in some areas. Chile's National Emergency Office said fine ash was still falling and that visibility was poor. Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said: "We don't know if this is a situation that will last days or weeks or even more." http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23663810-2,00.html
As in the days of Noah...