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Report on Soufriere Guadeloupe (France) — May 1977


Soufriere Guadeloupe

Natural Science Event Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 5 (May 1977)
Managing Editor: David Squires.

Soufriere Guadeloupe (France) Fumarolic activity

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1977. Report on Soufriere Guadeloupe (France) (Squires, D., ed.). Natural Science Event Bulletin, 2:5. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.NSEB197705-360060



Soufriere Guadeloupe

France

16.044°N, 61.664°W; summit elev. 1467 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Surface activity at La Soufrière remained entirely fumarolic, and was strongest from the fissures toward the top of the summit dome. [Seismicity continued an irregular decline (table 5).]

Geological Summary. La Soufrière de la Guadeloupe volcano occupies the southern end of Basse-Terre, the western half of the island of Guadeloupe. Construction of the Grand Découverte volcano about 200,000 years ago was followed a Plinian eruption and caldera formation about 100,000 years later, and then by construction of the Carmichaël volcano within the caldera. Two episodes of edifice collapse and associated large debris avalanches formed the Carmichaël and Amic craters about 11,500 and 3,100 years ago, respectively. The present volcano subsequently grew within the Amic crater. The summit consists of a flat-topped lava dome, and several other domes occur on the southern flanks. Six phreatic explosive eruptions since 1690 opened radial fractures across the summit lava dome. The phreatic eruptions in 1976-77 caused severe economic disruption when Basse-Terre, the island's capital city immediately below the volcano, was evacuated.

Information Contacts: M. Feuillard, Lab. de Physique du Globe.