Mount Tondano in the province of

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Soccsks ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, Indonesia, has a 20 × 30 km wide

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

which was formed in the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

Early Pliocene Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * Early ...

by a massive eruption. Post caldera activity includes

pyroclastic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

flows and geothermal areas in the caldera area.

Lake Tondano Lake Tondano is the largest lake in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The lake is approximately from the city of Manado and is above sea level. In recent years there have been reports of decreasing water levels at Lake Tondano; from 1934 when it was , ...

lies in the east side of the caldera. The 5 km long and 3.5 km wide ellipsoidal Pangolombian caldera lies entirely within the Tondano Caldera, and formed from a large eruption of an older Somma volcano. In more recent times, the

somma A somma volcano (also known as a sommian) is a volcanic caldera that has been partially filled by a new central cone. The name comes from Mount Somma, a stratovolcano in southern Italy with a summit caldera in which the upper cone of Mount Ves ...

volcanoes of

Soputan Soputan is a stratovolcano in Indonesia. It is on the northern arm of Sulawesi island and rises to an elevation of 1,785 m (5,853 ft). The geologically young and mostly unvegetated cone is primarily constructed of andesite and basalt r ...

, Sempu,

Lokon-Empung Lokon-Empung is a volcano on the island of Sulawesi. It is one of the most active in Indonesia. It consists of two volcanic cones, the older Lokon and the younger Empung. The active crater of Tompaluan is situated in the saddle between the two c ...

and Mahawu have been constructed along the rim of the Tondano caldera, with Soputan being the youngest and most frequently active of the group. The Tondano caldera has been investigated as a potential source for

geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...

to support the growing population in the vicinity of the caldera. Energy demand has been growing in Indonesia, and the Tondano caldera system could potentially provide clean energy for thousands of residents in northern Sulawesi.

References

Mountains of Sulawesi Volcanoes of Sulawesi Calderas of Indonesia Volcanic crater lakes Landforms of North Sulawesi {{NSulawesi-geo-stub

See also

References