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Report on Gaua (Vanuatu) — 16 December-22 December 2009


Gaua

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 16 December-22 December 2009
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2009. Report on Gaua (Vanuatu) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 16 December-22 December 2009. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (16 December-22 December 2009)

Gaua

Vanuatu

14.281°S, 167.514°E; summit elev. 729 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


On 14 December, Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory reported that activity from Gaua during the previous month was characterized by continuous ash emissions accompanied by periodic steam emissions. Ashfall was reported in the W part of the island. Satellite imagery revealed that periods of significant gas emissions were more frequent than during November. Ash emissions during 14-18 December were thicker and darker, and possibly represented a new eruptive phase. Ash plumes continued to drift W and produce ashfall. The Vanuatu Volcanic Alert Level remained at 2 (on a scale of 0-4).

Geological Summary. The roughly 20-km-diameter Gaua Island, also known as Santa Maria, consists of a basaltic-to-andesitic stratovolcano with an 6 x 9 km summit caldera. Small vents near the caldera rim fed Pleistocene lava flows that reached the coast on several sides of the island; littoral cones were formed where these lava flows reached the ocean. Quiet collapse that formed the roughly 700-m-deep caldera was followed by extensive ash eruptions. The active Mount Garet (or Garat) cone in the SW part of the caldera has three pit craters across the summit area. Construction of Garet and other small cinder cones has left a crescent-shaped lake. The onset of eruptive activity from a vent high on the SE flank in 1962 ended a long period of dormancy.

Source: Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards Department (VMGD)