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Report on Marapi (Indonesia) — 27 July-2 August 2011


Marapi

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 27 July-2 August 2011
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2011. Report on Marapi (Indonesia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 27 July-2 August 2011. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (27 July-2 August 2011)

Marapi

Indonesia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


CVGHM reported increased seismicity from Marapi during 21 June-3 August. Observers noted that during June and July white plumes rose 15-75 m above the summit craters. On 1 August white plumes rose 15 m above the main crater; fog prevented observations the next day. On 3 August dense gray plumes rose 300-1,000 m above the crater on eight occasions. That same day CVGHM raised the Alert Level to 2 (on a scale of 1-4). Visitors and residents were prohibited from going within a 3-km radius of the summit.

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.

Source: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM)