Volcano spews plasma : run away! run away!

Check out the awesome pic's taken by some nut who stuck around as the long dormant Chaitén volcano on the coast of Chile erupted this week. They say that the mingling of lightning and ash seen in these pic's may be a "dirty thunderstorm." The little-understood storms may be sparked when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges—just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms.

Check out more pic's after the jump. (Thanks National Geographic!)

Click on image to enlarge.