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Report on Langila (Papua New Guinea) — December 1988


Langila

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 12 (December 1988)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Langila (Papua New Guinea) Small Vulcanian explosion

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1988. Report on Langila (Papua New Guinea) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 13:12. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN198812-252010



Langila

Papua New Guinea

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


"Low-level activity continued in December. Weak to moderate white emissions with occasional grey ash clouds were released from Crater 2. Weak rumbling noises were heard 28-31 December. A Vulcanian explosion on the 4th ejected an ash column that rose a few hundred metres and resulted in light ashfall to the SE. Crater 3 remained inactive throughout the month. Seismic activity remained at a low level with <10 events/day near the end of the month."

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: H. Patia and P. Lowenstein, RVO.