Montserrat Volcano | Soufriere Hills Volcano

Montserrat Volcano | Soufriere Hills

Home > Caribbean > Leeward Islands > Montserrat > Volcano

The Soufriere Hills volcano on the tiny island of Montserrat lay dormant for hundreds of thousands of years. In 1992 small earthquakes and some seismic activity began. On the 18th July 1995 the mountain awoke and started spewing steam and ash into the air. In August 1995 the first major eruption took place which covered the nearby town of Plymouth (the capital of Montserrat) in a thick layer volcanic ash. Plymouth and the whole of the southern part of the island was evacuated.

Soufriere Hills Volcano Montserrat

Erupting Volcano

Soufriere Volcano

Erupting Volcano

Soufriere Volcano

In 1997 there was a huge volcanic eruption which killed 19 people, buried most of Plymouth and destroyed the W H Bramble airport in a pyroclastic flow. Casualties would have certainly been much higher; however, more than half of the population had already abandoned the island to live elsewhere. Reconstruction is taking place in the north of the island; well away from the reach of the Volcano.

Seismographs at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory

Since 1997 there has been an exclusion zone covering Plymouth and the whole of the south eastern part of Montserrat. The Montserrat Volcano
now forms a valuable part of the island's tourist industry with volcano viewing tours from safe vantage points.

The volcano is monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) in Flemmings; including gas emissions and measuring seismic activity. The
photo (below) was taken from the observatory (left image).

External links: Montserrat Volcano Observatory: http://www.mvo.ms

Soufriere Hills Volcano

Link to this page from another website, blog or social networking site?

The URL of this page is: http://www.paradise-islands.org/montserrat/volcano.htm

Home | About Us