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Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) — 15 September-21 September 2010


Sinabung

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 September-21 September 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 September-21 September 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (15 September-21 September 2010)

Sinabung

Indonesia

3.17°N, 98.392°E; summit elev. 2460 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Based on information from CVGHM and views through a web camera, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 15-18 September ash plumes from Sinabung rose to an altitude of 4.3 km (14,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W. CVGHM reported a slow rate of inflation during 15-18 September followed by deflation during 19-21 September. Fog mostly prevented visual observations. On 20 September diffuse white plumes rose 30 m above the crater and drifted NE. The Alert Level remained at 4 (on a scale of 1-4).

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