Logo link to homepage

Report on Marapi (Indonesia) — September 1979


Marapi

Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 9 (September 1979)
Managing Editor: David Squires.

Marapi (Indonesia) Small ash eruption

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1979. Report on Marapi (Indonesia) (Squires, D., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 4:9. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN197909-261140



Marapi

Indonesia

0.38°S, 100.474°E; summit elev. 2885 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


A small eruption of Marapi occurred on 11 September. The eruption column rose 700 m and deposited ash to ~3 km W of the volcano. An inspection revealed that three summit-area craters (Verbeek, C, and Tuo) had been active. No activity has been reported since then.

Geological Summary. Gunung Marapi, not to be confused with the better-known Merapi volcano on Java, is Sumatra's most active volcano. This massive complex stratovolcano rises 2,000 m above the Bukittinggi Plain in the Padang Highlands. A broad summit contains multiple partially overlapping summit craters constructed within the small 1.4-km-wide Bancah caldera. The summit craters are located along an ENE-WSW line, with volcanism migrating to the west. More than 50 eruptions, typically consisting of small-to-moderate explosive activity, have been recorded since the end of the 18th century; no lava flows outside the summit craters have been reported in historical time.

Information Contacts: A. Sudradjat, VSI.