The roiling front of an advancing pyroclastic flow sweeps down the Tar River delta on January 16, 1997. The cauliflower-like clouds of hot gas and ash rise above a basal bedload of vesiculating blocks and pumice from the summit lava dome. This was one of many pyroclastic flows produced by multiple collapses of the oversteepened dome growing in the summit crater of Soufrière Hills volcano.

Photo by Richard Herd, 1997 (Montserrat Volcano Observatory).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Soufrière Hills