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Report on Ibu (Indonesia) — 29 July-4 August 2020


Ibu

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 29 July-4 August 2020
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2020. Report on Ibu (Indonesia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 29 July-4 August 2020. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (29 July-4 August 2020)

Ibu

Indonesia

1.488°N, 127.63°E; summit elev. 1325 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


PVMBG reported that during 29-30 July white-to-gray plumes rose 200-800 m above Ibu’s summit and drifted NW; weather conditions prevented visual observations during 31 July-1 August. The Darwin VAAC reported a thermal anomaly in satellite images on 31 July. The Alert Level remained at 2 (on a scale of 1-4), and the public was warned to stay at least 2 km away from the active crater, and 3.5 km away on the N side.

Geological Summary. The truncated summit of Gunung Ibu stratovolcano along the NW coast of Halmahera Island has large nested summit craters. The inner crater, 1 km wide and 400 m deep, has contained several small crater lakes. The 1.2-km-wide outer crater is breached on the N, creating a steep-walled valley. A large cone grew ENE of the summit, and a smaller one to the WSW has fed a lava flow down the W flank. A group of maars is located below the N and W flanks. The first observed and recorded eruption was a small explosion from the summit crater in 1911. Eruptive activity began again in December 1998, producing a lava dome that eventually covered much of the floor of the inner summit crater along with ongoing explosive ash emissions.

Sources: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM), Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)