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Report on Seulawah Agam (Indonesia) — August 2010


Seulawah Agam

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 35, no. 8 (August 2010)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman. Edited by Jen Fela.

Seulawah Agam (Indonesia) Minor tremor during April-August 2010

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Seulawah Agam (Indonesia) (Fela, J., and Wunderman, R., eds.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 35:8. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN201008-261020



Seulawah Agam

Indonesia

5.448°N, 95.658°E; summit elev. 1810 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


This is our first report on Seulawah Agam, which has not erupted since a phreatic eruption in 1839. Beginning in April 2010, the seismicity increased at the volcano (table 1). However, visible signs of unrest were absent, although the volcano often is covered by fog.

Table 1. Types and numbers of volcanic earthquakes recorded at Seulawah Agam during April-August 2010. Background levels prior to increased April activity were not available. Courtesy of CVGHM.

Month Deep volcanic Shallow volcanic
Apr 2010 66 70
May 2010 55 121
Jun 2010 53 83
Jul 2010 46 76
Aug 2010 80 99

On 1 September, based on the increase in seismicity, the Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM) raised the Alert Level to 2 (on a scale of 1-4) and restricted visitors from approaching the crater within a 3-km radius.

Geological Summary. Seulawah Agam at the NW tip of Sumatra is an extensively forested volcano of Pleistocene-Holocene age constructed within the large Pleistocene Lam Teuba caldera. A smaller 8 x 6 km caldera lies within Lam Teuba caldera. The summit contains a forested, 400-m-wide crater. The active van Heutsz crater, located at 650 m on the NNE flank of Suelawah Agam, is one of several areas containing active fumarole fields. Sapper (1927) and the Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World (CAVW) reported an explosive eruption in the early 16th century, and the CAVW also listed an eruption from the van Heutsz crater in 1839. Rock et al. (1982) found no evidence for historical eruptions. However the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia noted that although no historical eruptions have occurred from the main cone, the reported NNE-flank explosive activity may have been hydrothermal and not have involved new magmatic activity.

Information Contacts: Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM), Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (URL: http://vsi.esdm.go.id/).