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Report on Barren Island (India) — 15 March-21 March 2006


Barren Island

Smithsonian / US Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report,
15 March-21 March 2006
Managing Editor: Sally Kuhn Sennert

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Barren Island (India). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 March-21 March 2006. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (15 March-21 March 2006)

Barren Island

India

12.278°N, 93.858°E; summit elev. 354 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


According to a news article, a team of scientists that visited Barren Island around 12 March found that the volcano was still very active and the height of the volcanic cone had increased by 50 m since eruptive activity began in May 2005. In addition, lava flows covered the NW side of the island.

Geological Summary. Barren Island, a possession of India in the Andaman Sea about 135 km NE of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, is the only historically active volcano along the N-S volcanic arc extending between Sumatra and Burma (Myanmar). It is the emergent summit of a volcano that rises from a depth of about 2250 m. The small, uninhabited 3-km-wide island contains a roughly 2-km-wide caldera with walls 250-350 m high. The caldera, which is open to the sea on the west, was created during a major explosive eruption in the late Pleistocene that produced pyroclastic-flow and -surge deposits. Historical eruptions have changed the morphology of the pyroclastic cone in the center of the caldera, and lava flows that fill much of the caldera floor have reached the sea along the western coast.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service