Piton de la Fournaise

Piton de la Fournaise
	Piton de la Fournaise (2015)
height	2632 m
location	Réunion , Indian Ocean
Coordinates	21 ° 13 '48 " S , 55 ° 43' 1" E Coordinates: 21 ° 13 '48 " S , 55 ° 43' 1" O
Type	Shield volcano
Age of the rock	380,000 years
Last eruption	11th August 2019
First ascent	1751

The Piton de la Fournaise is a 2632 m high volcano in the French overseas department of La Réunion . It was formed 380,000 years ago on the south side of the Piton des Neiges and is one of the most active volcanoes on earth. 47 eruptions have been recorded since 1950, and there have been indications of almost 180 eruptions since 1640.

Characteristic

The volcano is the last active volcano on La Réunion, there are always smaller eruptions , but they are relatively harmless. Similar to the volcanoes on Hawaii, thin- flowing lava emerges and makes its way towards the sea, there are no major gas explosions. In contrast to volcanoes like Mount St. Helens or Vesuvius with their sudden and incalculable eruptions, the eruptions at Piton de la Fournaise are quite predictable and therefore relatively harmless.

Although the coastal road is often damaged by the eruptions, at the same time the spectacle of the eruptions that takes place every year attracts onlookers from all over the island under the slogan: "volcan la pété" ("the volcano farts").

To the northeast at the foot of the mountain in the district of Piton Sainte-Rose is the church of the commune of Sainte-Rose , which was almost destroyed by a lava flow in April 1977. The lava entered the church through the portal, but the lava flow stopped in the nave. Since then the church has been called Notre-Dame-des-Laves .

history

The first ascent, of which there are written records, was made on September 21, 1751 by Andoche Dolnet de Palmaroux.

Another expedition in October 1768 led to the discovery of the Pas de Bellecombe pass , which was named after the governor at the time, who personally participated in the climb, but turned back before the pass was found.

The first expeditions of a scientific nature were carried out in 1771 and 1772 by the French botanist Philibert Commerson , accompanied by the Chevalier de Saint Lubin, de Crémont and Jean-Baptiste Lislet Geoffroy .

Almost 180 eruptions have been described since the first observations began in 1640. This has only been systematic since the middle of the 20th century, and there have been almost 50 outbreaks since 1950.

Recent eruptions

An eruption on April 2, 2007 was so violent that the volcano's main crater collapsed. The bottom of the 1000 meter long and 500 meter wide crater sank by 300 meters.

On November 6, 2009 there was another small eruption, which lasted only a few hours. Nevertheless, the inner part of the crater remains closed to visitors.

On October 14, 2010, the volcano erupted at around 7:00 p.m. at a secondary crater in the Château Fort area southeast of the main crater. The eruptions ended on October 31, 2010.

On the evening of December 9, 2010, there was an eruption for the third time in 2010, this time on the north-eastern flank of the main Dolomieu crater.

Another eruption began on June 21, 2014 at 1:35 a.m. The monitoring network of the Piton de la Fournaise Volcanological Observatory (OVPF) had already measured increased seismic activity since June 10 . As of June 21, 12:20 a.m., four to five tremors per minute were recorded which preceded the actual eruption of thin lava. The eruption occurred near the summit at about 2,300 m altitude on the east-southeast flank of the volcano.

The Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPDLF) reported that on February 4, 2015, the first tremors (volcanic tremors) were measured, which indicated a rise of magma inside the volcano. The eruption center was about 100 m west of the Bory Crater. The activities ended on February 15 at around 10:30 p.m. Another outbreak began at 1:45 p.m. on May 17, 2015 and continues through the end of May. On July 31, 2015, 9:20 a.m. (local time), the volcano erupted again after the eruption had been announced by an earthquake (tremor) and an increase in gas concentration the days before. The eruption ended on August 2, 11:15 a.m. (local time).

There were four outbreaks in 2015, and three each in 2016 and 2017.

On September 11, 2016 at 8:41 a.m. local time, a crevice opened northwest of the main crater. Lava ejected in the form of fountains and flowed northwards. The eruption extinguished on September 18, 2016 at 4:18 a.m.

Another eruption began on January 31, 2017 at 7:40 p.m. local time on the southern flank of the volcano. At the beginning of February 2017, between 5 and 10 m ³ / s lava was extracted. The length of the eruption crevice was 128 m. A series of eruptions lasted from July 14th to August 28th, 2017.

The volcano erupted five times in 2019: on February 19 to March 10, on June 11 to 13, on July 29, on August 11 to 15 and on October 25 to 27, 2019.

The last eruption so far began on April 2, 2020, around 12 p.m. local time.