Chances Peak
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Chance's Peak

Chances Peak is a summit of the active complex
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...
named Soufrière Hills, the youngest volcanic complex on the island of
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
, a
British overseas territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
located in the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
. It was the highest point on the island until the mid-1990s, when fluctuating volcanic domes during the 1995–1999 Soufrière Hills eruptions eclipsed the peak in height. The Soufriere Hills volcano is on a destructive plate margin, and is part of the Eastern Caribbean Volcanic Arc. This volcanic arc lies on the Caribbean plate, and has formed by subduction of the North American Plate beneath it. On 17 September 1965 a
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
aircraft operating as
Pan Am Flight 292 Pan Am Flight 292 was operated by a Boeing 707-120B that flew into Chances Peak on the island of Montserrat on 17 September 1965 while on a flight from Fort-de-France - Le Lamentin Airport in Martinique to Coolidge International Airport in ...
flew into Chances Peak near the summit and was destroyed, killing the 30 people on board.


English's Crater

In 1936, the British geologist Archie MacGregor carried out geological fieldwork across
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
, as a part of a
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
expedition in response to an ongoing seismic crisis. MacGregor noted that the peak of what he called Chance's Mountain formed the highest point on the island (3002 feet, at that time). Following discussions with a local resident, Thomas Savage English, MacGregor's mapping confirmed that the region to the East of Chance's Peak summit was a breached volcanic crater. MacGregor called this 'English's Crater', and identified this structure on the geological map which accompanied his report. MacGregor also confirmed English's interpretation, that English's Crater contained the
volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged mag ...
or remnants of an old volcanic dome, called Castle Peak or Castles Peak. The first recorded eruption of Montserrat of the modern era began within English's Crater, in July 1995.https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=360050#bgvn_199506


See also

*
Geography of Montserrat Montserrat is an island in the Caribbean Sea, in the Leeward Islands. Its nearest neighbours in the island chain include Guadeloupe to the southeast, Antigua to the north-east and Nevis to the northwest. The island is 16 km (9.9 mi) lo ...
*
List of volcanoes in Montserrat A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...


Notes


References

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External links


Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO)
- Current monitoring of the Soufrière Hills Volcano in
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
.
USGS Info on Soufrière Hills Volcano

British Geological Survey
Landforms of Montserrat Volcanoes of Montserrat Holocene stratovolcanoes Active volcanoes Mountains and hills of British Overseas Territories Complex volcanoes