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Report on Kelimutu (Indonesia) — April 1986


Kelimutu

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 11, no. 4 (April 1986)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Kelimutu (Indonesia) Gas emission from crater lake; felt earthquake

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1986. Report on Kelimutu (Indonesia) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 11:4. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN198604-264140



Kelimutu

Indonesia

8.77°S, 121.82°E; summit elev. 1639 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


". . . signs of unrest from the Tiwu Nua Muri crater . . . consisted of increased gas bubbling from the crater lake beginning on 27 April and a felt earthquake on 28 April."

Geological Summary. Kelimutu is a small, but well-known, Indonesian compound volcano in central Flores Island with three summit crater lakes of varying colors. The western lake, Tiwi Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) is commonly blue. Tiwu Nua Muri Kooh Tai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched, or Enchanted Lake), which share a common crater wall, are commonly colored green and red, respectively, although lake colors periodically vary. Active upwelling, probably fed by subaqueous fumaroles, occurs at the two eastern lakes. The scenic lakes are a popular tourist destination and have been the source of minor phreatic eruptions in historical time. The summit is elongated 2 km in a WNW-ESE direction; the older cones of Kelido (3 km N) and Kelibara (2 km S).

Information Contacts: Olas, Suratman, Suparto, Kaswanda, and A. Sudradjat, VSI.