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Report on Soputan (Indonesia) — November 1991


Soputan

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 16, no. 11 (November 1991)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Soputan (Indonesia) Incandescent ejecta; tremor

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1991. Report on Soputan (Indonesia) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 16:11. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199111-266030



Soputan

Indonesia

1.112°N, 124.737°E; summit elev. 1785 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Nine episodes of volcanic tremor, lasting ~2 minutes each, and two A-type earthquakes were recorded 26-27 November. Night glow suggested that lava had been newly extruded into the crater. Similar activity occurred on 12 October. The press reported incandescent tephra ejection and an apparent lava flow on 9 December.

Geological Summary. The Soputan stratovolcano on the southern rim of the Quaternary Tondano caldera on the northern arm of Sulawesi Island is one of Sulawesi's most active volcanoes. The youthful, largely unvegetated volcano is the only active cone in the Sempu-Soputan volcanic complex, which includes the Soputan caldera, Rindengan, and Manimporok (3.5 km ESE). Kawah Masem maar was formed in the W part of the caldera and contains a crater lake; sulfur has been extracted from fumarolic areas in the maar since 1938. Recent eruptions have originated at both the summit crater and Aeseput, a prominent NE-flank vent that formed in 1906 and was the source of intermittent major lava flows until 1924.

Information Contacts: VSI; UPI.