On 24 August OVPDLF reported continued deformation and an increase in seismicity at Piton de la Fournaise during the previous several days, and a significant increase in seismicity that morning. Sulfur dioxide gas emissions increased at 1600, and at 1711 the seismic and deformation network indicated a magmatic intrusion. Lava fountains were visible at 1850 from a fissure on the S flank of Dolomieu Crater, at about 2000 m elevation, near Rivals Crater. The fissure propagated towards the top of Rivals, and at around 2115 a fissure opened to the NW, below Bory Crater. The lava-flow rate was 30-60 cubic meters per second. By the next morning fountains at higher elevations ceased, and were only active from a 100-m-long section near Rivals Crater. The lava flow rate had significantly decreased to 10 cubic meters per second. Near the top of the active fissure a 140-m-high cone had formed.

Geological Summary. Piton de la Fournaise is a massive basaltic shield volcano on the French island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. Much of its more than 530,000-year history overlapped with eruptions of the deeply dissected Piton des Neiges shield volcano to the NW. Three scarps formed at about 250,000, 65,000, and less than 5,000 years ago by progressive eastward slumping, leaving caldera-sized embayments open to the E and SE. Numerous pyroclastic cones are present on the floor of the scarps and their outer flanks. Most recorded eruptions have originated from the summit and flanks of Dolomieu, a 400-m-high lava shield that has grown within the youngest scarp, which is about 9 km wide and about 13 km from the western wall to the ocean on the E side. More than 150 eruptions, most of which have produced fluid basaltic lava flows, have occurred since the 17th century. Only six eruptions, in 1708, 1774, 1776, 1800, 1977, and 1986, have originated from fissures outside the scarps.

Source: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF)