The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex in southern Chile erupted in June 2011 after nearly five decades of dormancy, producing ash clouds that drifted across South America and even reached Australia and New Zealand. The eruption forced evacuations in Chile and Argentina and disrupted air travel throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Ash fall affected agriculture and livestock across Patagonia.

The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle eruption influenced Chilean and Argentine contemporary poetry addressing transnational environmental impacts and the interconnectedness of Southern Hemisphere ecosystems. Patagonian poets and writers have explored volcanic imagery in works reflecting on border-crossing ash clouds, indigenous Mapuche perspectives on landscape, and the relationship between geological time and human temporality in South American eco-poetry and regional literary traditions.