Activity increased beginning on 4 July. A gray-to-black plume escaped the summit crater under high pressure around noon. Local residents heard a noise similar to cannon-fire. The cloud rose 800-2,000 m above the summit. The eruption ended about 1700. On 5 July the volcano had resumed its normal level of activity; the plume reached heights of 100-400 m above the summit.

Geological Summary. Gunung Kerinci in central Sumatra forms Indonesia's highest volcano and is one of the most active in Sumatra. It is capped by an unvegetated young summit cone that was constructed NE of an older crater remnant. There is a deep 600-m-wide summit crater often partially filled by a small crater lake that lies on the NE crater floor, opposite the SW-rim summit. The massive 13 x 25 km wide volcano towers 2400-3300 m above surrounding plains and is elongated in a N-S direction. Frequently active, Kerinci has been the source of numerous moderate explosive eruptions since its first recorded eruption in 1838.

Information Contacts: R. Sukhyar, Director, Volcanological Survey of Indonesia (VSI), Bandung, Indonesia (URL: http://www.vsi.esdm.go.id/).