Seismicity increased in January-February 1995. Continuous volcanic tremor (maximum amplitude 21 mm) was recorded during 14-19 January, followed by intermittent tremor (maximum amplitude 10 mm) until 26 January and during 6-10 February. Earthquakes associated with gas emissions were recorded at an average rate of 50 events/day in late January; by the end of February these had increased to 150 events/day (figure 06sla01f). No explosive activity was observed or detected.

Figure 1. Daily number of gas-emission earthquakes and tremor amplitude at Slamet, January-February 1995. Courtesy of VSI.

Geological Summary. Slamet, Java's second highest volcano at 3428 m and one of its most active, has a cluster of about three dozen cinder cones on its lower SE-NE flanks and a single cinder cone on the western flank. It is composed of two overlapping edifices, an older basaltic-andesite to andesitic volcano on the west and a younger basaltic to basaltic-andesite one on the east. Gunung Malang II cinder cone on the upper E flank on the younger edifice fed a lava flow that extends 6 km E. Four craters occur at the summit of Gunung Slamet, with activity migrating to the SW over time. Historical eruptions, recorded since the 18th century, have originated from a 150-m-deep, 450-m-wide, steep-walled crater at the western part of the summit and have consisted of explosive eruptions generally lasting a few days to a few weeks.

Information Contacts: W. Tjetjep, VSI.