Global Volcanism Program | Crater Mountain

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Crater Mountain.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Crater Mountain.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Crater Mountain.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Agotu Valley

Cone

2400 m

6° 32' 0" S

145° 13' 0" E

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

253001

Pleistocene

2,950 m / 9,678 ft

6.581°S
145.091°E

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Composite

Volcano Types
Stratovolcano
Pyroclastic cone(s)
Lava dome(s)
Maar(s)

Rock Types

Major
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Dacite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

351
1,907
13,731
875,371

Geological Summary

Crater Mountain, an arcuate chain of peaks, is extensively eroded to the point that its volcanic origin is almost unrecognizable. However, steep-sided valleys to the N and E are floored by lava flows and other young volcanic features. The easternmost Agotu Valley contains several small craters, cinder cones, and maars of late-Pleistocene or Holocene age (Mackenzie and Johnson, 1984). Several small cones, lava domes, and associated lava flows N and NW of the Erun Anticline may, in part, be Holocene in age.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior.

Mackenzie D E, Johnson R W, 1984. Pleistocene volcanoes of the western Papua New Guinea Highlands: morphology, geology, petrography, and modal and chemical analyses. Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Report 246: 1-271 (https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/a05f7892-ffee-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6).

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Crater Mountain. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 10,000 years ago, information might be found on the Crater Mountain page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Crater Mountain.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Crater Mountain.

Photo Gallery

The broad depression above the center of this composite NASA Landsat image of Papua New Guinea (with north to the top) is Crater Mountain. Although this arcuate chain of peaks 3000 m or more in height is extensively eroded, steep-sided valleys to the north and east are floored by lava flows and other young volcanic features. The Purari River cuts across the bottom of the image, and the smaller Pio River parallels it to the north, south of Crater Mountain.

NASA Landsat 7 image (worldwind.arc.nasa.gov)

Crater Mountain is located in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, seen here in this December 2019 Planet Labs satellite image mosaic (N is at the top). The field is an arcuate chain of eroded peaks containing two craters over 1 km wide and around 30 smaller identified vents.

Satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc., 2019 (https://www.planet.com/).

GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

The maps shown below have been scanned from the GVP map archives and include the volcano on this page. Clicking on the small images will load the full 300 dpi map. Very small-scale maps (such as world maps) are not included.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Crater Mountain in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Crater Mountain. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Crater Mountain. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Crater Mountain

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).