On 9 September 1998, an earthquake was felt in a village 3 km from Yasur; simultaneously, loud explosions were heard from the volcano. When the summit was visited by John Seach during 10-11 September, five craters inside the main summit crater in the pyroclastic cone were found to be active. Crater A, large and on the S, displayed quiet explosions followed by brown ash emission. Other craters were quiet with only gas emissions. These included the smaller Crater B, in the center of the main crater; the larger Crater C, on the N; the small Crater D located W of Crater B; and Crater E, on the SW wall of the main crater.

During 4 hours of observation on 10 September, 51 explosions were observed from four craters: Crater A, 25 explosions; Crater B, 9; Crater C, 13; and Crater D, 4. Bombs thrown from Craters B, C, and D fell back into the vent or onto the crater wall. Some larger explosions, every 20-30 minutes, threw bombs 350 m high. During the night, bombs thrown onto the crater wall glowed for up to 6 minutes. The explosions and shaking were felt up to 3 km away.

A fresh bomb collected in August 1997 (BGVN 22:08) was recently analyzed by microprobe (table 1).

Table 1. Major element analysis of Yasur glass taken from an average of five analyses on fresh glass bomb collected in August 1997. All iron is shown as FeO. Microprobe analysis courtesy of Timothy O'Hearn; sample courtesy of Steve and Donna O'Meara, and Robert Benward.

Geological Summary. Yasur has exhibited essentially continuous Strombolian and Vulcanian activity at least since Captain Cook observed ash eruptions in 1774. This style of activity may have continued for the past 800 years. Located at the SE tip of Tanna Island in Vanuatu, this pyroclastic cone has a nearly circular, 400-m-wide summit crater. The active cone is largely contained within the small Yenkahe caldera, and is the youngest of a group of Holocene volcanic centers constructed over the down-dropped NE flank of the Pleistocene Tukosmeru volcano. The Yenkahe horst is located within the Siwi ring fracture, a 4-km-wide open feature associated with eruption of the andesitic Siwi pyroclastic sequence. Active tectonism along the Yenkahe horst accompanying eruptions has raised Port Resolution harbor more than 20 m during the past century.

Information Contacts: John Seach, P.O. Box 16, Chatsworth Island, N.S.W. 2469, Australia; Tim O'Hearn, Department of Mineral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0119 USA.