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Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) — 13 January-19 January 2021


Sinabung

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 13 January-19 January 2021
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2021. Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 13 January-19 January 2021. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (13 January-19 January 2021)

Sinabung

Indonesia

3.17°N, 98.392°E; summit elev. 2460 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


PVMBG reported that the eruption at Sinabung continued during 13-19 January, though weather conditions often prevented visual conformation. White-and-gray ash plumes rose as high as 500 m above the summit during 14-15 January, and avalanches of material traveled 700-1,000 m down the SE flank. Dense white-and-gray ash plumes rose 500 m during 17-18 January. The Alert Level remained at 3 (on a scale of 1-4), with a general exclusion zone of 3 km and extensions to 5 km in the SE sector and 4 km in the NE sector.

Geological Summary. Gunung Sinabung is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano with many lava flows on its flanks. The migration of summit vents along a N-S line gives the summit crater complex an elongated form. The youngest crater of this conical andesitic-to-dacitic edifice is at the southern end of the four overlapping summit craters. The youngest deposit is a SE-flank pyroclastic flow 14C dated by Hendrasto et al. (2012) at 740-880 CE. An unconfirmed eruption was noted in 1881, and solfataric activity was seen at the summit and upper flanks in 1912. No confirmed historical eruptions were recorded prior to explosive eruptions during August-September 2010 that produced ash plumes to 5 km above the summit.

Sources: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM), Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)