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Report on Langila (Papua New Guinea) — December 1986


Langila

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 11, no. 12 (December 1986)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Langila (Papua New Guinea) Light ashfall; weak seismicity

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1986. Report on Langila (Papua New Guinea) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 11:12. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN198612-252010



Langila

Papua New Guinea

5.525°S, 148.42°E; summit elev. 1330 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Weak to moderate amounts of white vapor issued from Crater 2 during December, but no sounds or summit incandescence were reported. Small quantities of ash fell at the observation post . . . on 15 December. A pilot described a black plume rising to 1,500 m on 3 January but the report could not be confirmed by the local observer. Seismic activity remained at a low level.

Geological Summary. Langila, one of the most active volcanoes of New Britain, consists of a group of four small overlapping composite basaltic-andesitic cones on the lower E flank of the extinct Talawe volcano in the Cape Gloucester area of NW New Britain. A rectangular, 2.5-km-long crater is breached widely to the SE; Langila was constructed NE of the breached crater of Talawe. An extensive lava field reaches the coast on the N and NE sides of Langila. Frequent mild-to-moderate explosive eruptions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have been recorded since the 19th century from three active craters at the summit. The youngest and smallest crater (no. 3 crater) was formed in 1960 and has a diameter of 150 m.

Information Contacts: J. Mori and P. Lowenstein, RVO.