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Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) — 16 May-22 May 2018


Sinabung

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 16 May-22 May 2018
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2018. Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 16 May-22 May 2018. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (16 May-22 May 2018)

Sinabung

Indonesia

3.17°N, 98.392°E; summit elev. 2460 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


PVMBG reported that during 16-21 May gray-to-white plumes from Sinabung rose as high as 700 m above the crater rim and drifted in multiple directions. At 0900 on 20 May an event produced an ash plume that rose 700 m and drifted NW. An ash plume from an event later that day at 2122 rose 2.5 km and drifted W and NW. The Alert Level remained at 4 (on a scale of 1-4), with a general exclusion zone of 3 km and extensions of 7 km on the SSE sector, 6 km in the ESE sector, and 4 km in the NNE sector.

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.

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