Report on Kerinci (Indonesia) — December 2001
Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 26, no. 12 (December 2001)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman.
Kerinci (Indonesia) Minor explosions, ash plumes, and seismicity from May 2001 through early 2002
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2001. Report on Kerinci (Indonesia) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 26:12. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN200112-261170
Kerinci
Indonesia
1.697°S, 101.264°E; summit elev. 3800 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
During May 2001 through at least early January 2002, seismic activity at Kerinci was dominated by small explosion earthquakes. Plumes were visible above the summit and generally drifted E throughout most of the report period (table 1). Minor explosions occurred and on 9 August an explosion was accompanied by a booming sound heard by people working in rice fields around the volcano. At 0925 the same day a brown, high-pressure plume was observed reaching 700 m above the summit. The plume was visible drifting NNE for ~5 minutes.
Table 1. Seismicity at Kerinci during 7 May 2001 through 6 January 2002. The left-hand column shows time intervals; the adjacent four columns indicate the number of earthquakes or maximum tremor amplitudes seen during the time intervals; the right-hand column adds comments about plume heights. Courtesy VSI.
| Date | Deep volcanic | Shallow volcanic | Small explosion | Tectonic | Plume color and height |
| 07 May-13 May 2001 | 1 | 1 | 436 | 4 | White-thick; 800 m |
| 14 May-20 May 2001 | 2 | 3 | 973 | 6 | -- |
| 28 May-03 Jun 2001 | -- | 7 | 47 | 12 | Gray; 100-800 m |
| 04 Jun-10 Jun 2001 | 4 | -- | 24 | 7 | Gray; 100-300 m |
| 11 Jun-17 Jun 2001 | -- | 4 | continuous | 6 | Gray; 100-500 m |
| 18 Jun-24 Jun 2001 | 2 | 1 | continuous | 9 | Gray; 100-1000 m |
| 25 Jun-01 Jul 2001 | 1 | 3 | continuous | 10 | White; 500 m |
| 02 Jul-08 Jul 2001 | -- | -- | 360 | 10 | -- |
| 30 Jul-12 Aug 2001 | 6 | 6 | 990 | 16 | Brown; 700 m |
| 13 Aug-26 Aug 2001 | 1 | 6 | 2252 | 10 | White-brown; 500 m |
| 27 Aug-02 Sep 2001 | 1 | 2 | 971 | 9 | Gray; 400 m |
| 03 Sep-09 Sep 2001 | 1 | 1 | 1128 | 9 | Gray; 500 m |
| 10 Sep-16 Sep 2001 | 5 | 6 | 2281 | 5 | Gray; 600 m |
| 17 Sep-23 Sep 2001 | 3 | 4 | 920 | 6 | Gray; 300 m |
| 24 Sep-30 Sep 2001 | 2 | 6 | 1162 | 6 | White-thick; 500 m |
| 01 Oct-07 Oct 2001 | 2 | 1 | 1187 | 3 | White-thick; 400 m |
| 08 Oct-14 Oct 2001 | -- | 6 | 219 | 7 | White-thick; 700 m |
| 15 Oct-21 Oct 2001 | 1 | 1 | continuous | 7 | White-thick; 700 m |
| 22 Oct-28 Oct 2001 | 1 | 11 | continuous | 4 | White-thick; 300 m |
| 29 Oct-04 Nov 2001 | 4 | 6 | continuous | 3 | White-thick; 400 m |
| 05 Nov-11 Nov 2001 | 1 | 2 | 310 | 3 | White-thick; 50-300 m |
| 12 Nov-18 Nov 2001 | 1 | 3 | 329 | 9 | White-thick; 50-300 m |
| 19 Nov-25 Nov 2001 | 3 | 1 | continuous | 4 | White-thick; 50-500 m |
| 26 Nov-02 Dec 2001 | 1 | -- | 664 | 3 | White-thick; 50-300 m |
| 03 Dec-09 Dec 2001 | -- | -- | 736 | 10 | 50-400 m |
| 17 Dec-30 Dec 2001 | 6 | 4 | continuous | 9 | Gray; 100-800 m |
| 30 Dec-06 Jan 2002 | 1 | -- | 341 | 13 | White; 50-100 m |
Eruptive activity stopped briefly during mid-August. During 0800-1200 on 9 September, explosive activity produced a brown ash plume that rose 500 m above the summit. Gas pressure was low in early November and seismic activity decreased slightly. The volcano remained at Alert Level 2 (on a scale of 1-4) throughout the report period.
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: Dali Ahmad, Volcanological Survey of Indonesia (VSI), Jalan Diponegoro No. 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (URL: http://www.vsi.esdm.go.id/).
