Babuyan Claro Volcano, also known as Mount Pangasun, is a potentially active

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

located on Babuyan Island, the northernmost of the Babuyan group of islands in

Luzon Strait The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean. This body of water is an im ...

, north of the main island of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is classified as one of the

active volcanoes An active volcano is a volcano which is either erupting or is likely to erupt in the future. An active volcano which is not currently erupting is known as a dormant volcano. Overview Tlocene Epoch. Most volcanoes are situated on the Pacific Ri ...

of the country with the last confirmed eruption in 1860. Smith Volcano 1

The volcano is politically located in the similarly-named

Barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...

of Babuyan Claro, in the Municipality of Calayan,

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, covering ...

province, in the

Cagayan Valley Cagayan Valley ( ilo, Tanap ti Cagayan; fil, Lambak ng Cagayan), is an administrative region in the Philippines, located in the northeastern section of Luzon Island. It is composed of five Philippine provinces: Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, ...

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

(Region II) of the country.

Physical features

Babuyan Claro is a stratovolcano with an elevation of and a base diameter of about located in the center of Babuyan Island (also referred to as Babuyan Claro Island).Base diameter measured using Google Earth as the data at PHIVOLCS is incorrect at . It has four morphologically-fresh volcanic edifices: Mt. Cayonan in the south, Mt. Naydi and Mt. Dionisio in the southeast. Babuyan Claro has two very well-preserved craters in diameter. The Askedna Hot Spring is located at the southern basal slope of Babuyan Claro. It has a temperature range of . The water is slightly acidic and the silica content is relatively high since the spring flows directly from lava flow deposits. The spring water can be classified as near-neutral sodium chloride brine.

Eruptions

Babuyan Claro has two confirmed historical eruptions: in 1831 and 1860. The eruption on 1913 is listed as uncertain by the

Global Volcanism Program The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) documents Earth's volcanoes and their eruptive history over the past 10,000 years. The mission of the GVP is to document, understand, and disseminate information about global volcanic a ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

while the 1917 eruption is confirmed as an eruption of

Smith Volcano Smith Volcano, also known as Mount Babuyan, is a cinder cone on Babuyan Island, the northernmost of the Babuyan group of islands on Luzon Strait, north of the main island of Luzon in the Philippines. The mountain is one of the active volcano ...

. Eruptions on Babuyan Claro is determined as probably strombolian or phreatomagmatic by the

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS, ; tl, Surian ng Pilipinas sa Bulkanolohiya at Sismolohiya) is a Philippine national institution dedicated to provide information on the activities of volcanoes, earthquakes, and ...

Recent reported activity

In July 1993, there were reports of earthquakes and alleged drying up of vegetation at the upper slopes and summit area of the volcano but

volcanologist A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, col ...

s said the earthquakes were of

tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...

in origin and there was no significant change in the volcanic activity. In February 2004, there were reports of grayish steam clouds hovering above the summit but volcanologists from PHIVOLCS said the seismic swarm was of tectonic origin and the steaming activity was only wispy to weak.

References

{{Volcanoes of the Philippines Stratovolcanoes of the Philippines Subduction volcanoes Volcanoes of the Luzon Strait Mountains of the Philippines Active volcanoes of the Philippines Landforms of Cagayan

Physical features

Eruptions

Recent reported activity

See also

References