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Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) — 15 May-21 May 2019


Sinabung

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 May-21 May 2019
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2019. Report on Sinabung (Indonesia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 May-21 May 2019. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (15 May-21 May 2019)

Sinabung

Indonesia

3.17°N, 98.392°E; summit elev. 2460 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


PVMBG reported that white plumes rose as high as 700 m above Sinabung’s crater rim during 13-21 May. On 20 May the Alert Level was lowered to 3 (on a scale of 1-4), with a general exclusion zone of 3 km and extensions to 5 km on the SE sector and 4 km in the NE sector. PVMBG noted that the seismic activity surrounding the recent ash emissions during 7 and 11-12 May were not indicative of renewed activity.

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)