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The Soufrière Hills () is an active, complex
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...
with many
lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...
s forming its summit on the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
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, wit ...
. After a long period of
dormancy Dormancy is a period in an organism's Biological life cycle, life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolism, metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserv ...
, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and continued to erupt through 2010. Its last eruption was in 2013. Its eruptions have rendered more than half of Montserrat uninhabitable, destroying the capital city,
Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
, and causing widespread evacuations: about two-thirds of the population have left the island. Chances Peak in the Soufrière Hills was the highest summit on Montserrat until the mid-1990s, but it has since been eclipsed by various rising and falling volcanic domes during the recent volcanic activity. The volcano is
andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
in nature, and the current pattern of activity includes periods of lava dome growth, punctuated by brief episodes of dome collapse which result in
pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...
s, ash venting, and explosive eruption. The volcano is monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Volcanic gas emissions from this volcano are measured by a
multi-component gas analyzer system A multi-component gas analyzer system (Multi-GAS) is an instrument package used to take real-time high-resolution measurements of volcanic gases. A Multi-GAS package includes an infrared spectrometer for carbon dioxide, CO2, two electrochemical sen ...
, which detects pre-eruptive degassing of rising magmas, improving
prediction of volcanic activity Prediction of volcanic activity, and volcanic eruption forecasting, is an interdisciplinary monitoring and research effort to predict the time and severity of a volcano's eruption. Of particular importance is the prediction of hazardous eruptions ...
. The Centre Hills in the central part of the island and the Silver Hills in the north are older volcanic
massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
s related to the subduction zone. There are three main parts of the island: the central zone, subduction and exclusion.


Name

Many volcanoes in the Caribbean are named Soufrière ( French for '
sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...
outlet'). These include La Soufrière or Soufrière Saint Vincent on the island of Saint Vincent, and La Grande Soufrière on
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...
.


Early history

* 2460 BC (± 70 years): An explosive eruption formed the crater at the top of the volcano. * 1550 AD (± 50 years): Between 25 and 65 million cubic metres of lava erupted at Castle Peak.


1995–1999 eruption

Seismic Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...
activity had occurred in 1897–1898, 1933–1937, and again in 1966–1967, but the eruption that began on 18 July 1995 was the first since the turn of the 20th century. The first phreatic explosion in this new period of activity occurred on 21 August 1995, and such activity lasted for 18 weeks until it caused an
andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
lava dome formation. This was initially confined by a sector-collapse scar, first identified in the 1930's and called English's Crater. This period of activity lasted for another 60 weeks, after which there were major dome collapses and two periods of explosive volcanic eruptions and fountain-collapse pyroclastic flows. The explosion blanketed Plymouth, away, in a thick layer of ash and darkened the sky almost completely. Pyroclastic flows were first observed on 27 March 1996. Although these pyroclastic flows and mudflows were initially confined to unpopulated areas, a major pyroclastic flow on 17 September 1996 caused severe damage to the village of Long Ground, near the volcano. By August 1997, much of the southern part of the island, including most of Plymouth, had been buried by pyroclastic flows. During this period, the southern portion of the island, including the capital Plymouth, was evacuated three times. The first evacuation lasted from 21 August 1995 – 3 September 1995, after the first phreatic eruption. The second evacuation began on 1 December 1995, due to growth of the lava dome. Residents were allowed back to most areas, including Plymouth, on 1 January 1996, but residents of some areas on the eastern flank of the volcano were not allowed back until 15 January 1996. On 3 April 1996, after
pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...
s and mudflows began occurring regularly, southern Montserrat, including the capital, Plymouth, was permanently evacuated. Earthquakes continued to occur in three
epicentre The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a s ...
zones: beneath the Soufrière Hills volcano, in the ridge running to the northeast, and beneath St George's Hill, about to the northwest. A large eruption on 25 June 1997 resulted in the deaths of nineteen people. The island's airport was directly in the path of the main pyroclastic flow and was completely destroyed. Montserrat's tourist industry also collapsed, although it began partially to recover within fifteen years. The governments of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and Montserrat led the aid effort, including a £41 million package provided to the Montserrat population; however, riots followed as the people protested that the British Government was not doing enough for aid relief. The riots followed a £10 million aid offer by International Development Secretary Clare Short, prompting the resignation of Bertrand Osborne, then Chief Minister of Montserrat, after allegations that he was too pro-British and had not demanded a better offer. The British
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
took a major role in evacuating Montserrat's population to other islands, including
Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...
who warned they would not be able to cope with many more refugees. About 7,000 people, or two-thirds of the population, left Montserrat; 4,000 went to the United Kingdom.


Abandoned settlements

The following is a list of Montserrat settlements abandoned by the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano: *
Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, south-east of Aylesbury and north-east of High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. There ar ...
* Bethel† * Bramble† * Cork Hill * Dyers† * Elberton * Fairfield† * Farm† * Farrell's† * Farrell's Yard† * Gages * Galway's Estate† * Harris† * Hermitage† * Kinsale * Lee's * Molyneux * Long Ground† * Morris's† * North Olveston (since re-settled) * Old Towne (since re-settled) *
Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
– the capital of Montserrat, initially evacuated in August 1995; abandoned and destroyed in 1997† * Robuscus Mt† * Saint George's Hill * Saint Patrick's† * Salem (since re-settled) * Soufrière† * Streatham† * Weekes * Woodlands (since re-settled) †Settlement was destroyed In addition, the W. H. Bramble Airport was destroyed.


Activity since 1999

On 24 December 2006, streaks of red from the
pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...
s became visible. On 8 January 2007, an evacuation order was issued for areas in the Lower Belham Valley, affecting an additional 100 people. At 11:27 pm local time on Monday 28 July 2008, an eruption began without any precursory activity. Pyroclastic flow lobes reached Plymouth. These involved juvenile material originating in the collapse of the eruption column. In addition, a small part of the eastern side of the lava dome collapsed, generating a pyroclastic flow in Tar River Valley. Several large explosions were registered, with the largest at approximately 11:38 pm. The height of the ash column was estimated at 12,000 m (40,000 ft) above sea level. The volcano has become one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world since its eruption began, with the Montserrat Volcano Observatory taking detailed measurements and reporting on its activity to the government and population of Montserrat. The observatory is operated by the
British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance Earth science, geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ...
, under contract to the government of Montserrat. The 9 October 2008 issue of the journal ''
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' suggested that two interconnected
magma chamber A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it u ...
s lie beneath the surface of the volcano on Montserrat – one six kilometres below the surface and the other below the surface. The journal also showed a link between surface behaviour and the size of the deeper magma chamber. On 5 February 2010, a vulcanian explosion simultaneously propelled pyroclastic flows down several sides of the mountain, and on 11 February 2010, a partial collapse of the
lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...
sent large ash clouds over sections of several nearby islands, including
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...
and
Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...
. Inhabited areas of Montserrat itself received very little ash accumulation during either event. On 12 February 2010, at 1200 UTC/GMT, Meteosat SEVIRI Channel 7 shows the ash plume from the eruption was caught up within the warm sector of a frontal system heading towards western Europe exacerbating two East Atlantic winter storms. eferenceViolent storms accompanied by torrential rain and high wind passed over Madeira on 20 February and western Europe on 26–28 February. In Madeira there was at least 48 fatalities and damage to infrastructure at a total estimated cost of 4 billion Euros. The storm landfalling in western France (named 'Cyclone Xynthia') resulted in at least 63 fatalities and estimated damage within the range of 1.3-3 billion Euros. Yim, W. 2016. Volcanoes and disastrous storms. Imperial Engineer, Spring 2016, p. 19.


In popular culture

*
Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (December 25, 1946 – September 1, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter, author, and businessman. He was known for his tropical rock sound and persona, which often portrayed a lifestyle described as "island escapis ...
's song "
Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
" and album of the same title are named for Soufrière Hills, and the album's cover artwork features a drawing of smoke spewing from the volcano's summit. Buffett recorded the album at
AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producers George Martin, John Burgess (record producer), John Burgess, Ron Richards (producer), Ron Richards, and Peter Sullivan (rec ...
in the town of Salem on the island in 1979 and drew inspiration for the song from relaxing at a
hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...
at the volcano's base. The studio was damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and never reopened. * Season 3, episode 13 of the
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
television documentary programme '' Seconds from Disaster'' talks about the events surrounding the eruption.


Gallery

Montserrat Salem Eruption1.jpg, 22 September 1997 10:46 a.m. eruption Soufriere hills ash.jpg, Ash plume from Soufrière Hills, 10 March 2004 From Garibaldi Hill (5809292121).jpg, The volcano in 2011 Volcanic Debris (5809856144).jpg, Debris in Belham River Valley in 2011 Monserrat - Soufrière Hills close-up.jpg, A close-up of the volcano in 2012 Montserrat, Karibik - 2012-03-04 - Soufrière Hills - still active - panoramio.jpg, Close-up of the volcano in 2012 Montserrat, Karibik - 2012-03-04 - Pyroclastic Flows - panoramio.jpg, Pyroclastic flow deposits in 2012 Soufrière Hills volcano in Monserrat.jpg, The side of the volcano in 2012, showing the path taken by pyroclastic flows


References


External links


Satellite imagery of 11 February 2010 eruption

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, wit ...
.
USGS Info on Soufrière Hills Volcano

2009 activity at Soufrière Hills Volcano
from
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Earth Observatory
Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program: Soufrière Hills
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soufriere Hills Landforms of Montserrat Volcanoes of Montserrat Holocene stratovolcanoes Active volcanoes Mountains and hills of British Overseas Territories Complex volcanoes 20th-century volcanic events Natural disasters in Montserrat 21st-century volcanic events Exclusion zones