Logo link to homepage

Report on Langila (Papua New Guinea) — May 1991


Langila

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 16, no. 5 (May 1991)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Langila (Papua New Guinea) Ash emission resumes; steady glow

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1991. Report on Langila (Papua New Guinea) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 16:5. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199105-252010



Langila

Papua New Guinea

5.525°S, 148.42°E; summit elev. 1330 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


"After 7 months of quiescence, Crater 3 was reactivated. Resumption of activity, which started on 16 May, was manifested by the release of moderately thick white-to-grey vapour clouds with occasional blue vapours, and the recording of explosion earthquakes (2-20/day). After 18 May, deep rumbling noises and/or loud Vulcanian explosions were heard at the Cape Gloucester observation post . . . and light ashfalls occurred on the NW flank of the volcano. A weak steady red glow was observed over this crater at the end of the month.

"Activity at Crater 2 . . . did not seem to be affected. This crater kept on releasing moderate to weak emissions of white vapour and displayed a steady weak night glow."

Geological Summary. Langila, one of the most active volcanoes of New Britain, consists of a group of four small overlapping composite basaltic-andesitic cones on the lower E flank of the extinct Talawe volcano in the Cape Gloucester area of NW New Britain. A rectangular, 2.5-km-long crater is breached widely to the SE; Langila was constructed NE of the breached crater of Talawe. An extensive lava field reaches the coast on the N and NE sides of Langila. Frequent mild-to-moderate explosive eruptions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have been recorded since the 19th century from three active craters at the summit. The youngest and smallest crater (no. 3 crater) was formed in 1960 and has a diameter of 150 m.

Information Contacts: D. Lolok and P. de Saint-Ours, RVO.