Taal (volcano)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taal
The Taalsee with the Binintiang Malaki in the northwest of Volcano Island

The Taalsee with the Binintiang Malaki in the northwest of Volcano Island

height 311  m
location Luzon Island , Philippines
Coordinates 14 ° 0 ′ 7 "  N , 120 ° 59 ′ 34"  E Coordinates: 14 ° 0 ′ 7 "  N , 120 ° 59 ′ 34"  E
Taal (volcano) (Philippines)
Taal (volcano)
Type Caldera
Last eruption 2020
The Taal Lake with Volcano Island in the middle
Location of the volcano in Batangas Province
Crater from the 1965 eruption on the southwest of Volcano Island

The Taal is a volcano on the Philippine island of Luzon . It is located in the municipality of Talisay and San Nicolas in the Batangas province, about 60 kilometers south of Manila . The volcano consists of a caldera , in which the Taalsee was formed, and Volcano Island , an island in the lake that was the starting point for most of the eruptions in historical times. Several times people died in the densely populated area around the volcano.

Geological evolution

The Taal is one of a series of volcanoes in the west of the island of Luzon that lie between two subduction zones . The caldera with a diameter of 25 to 30 kilometers was created in four huge eruptions 500,000 to 100,000 years ago. Each of these eruptions formed extensive deposits of ignimbrite that extend into what is now Manila. Another eruption that helped create the caldera occurred approximately 5400 years ago. Large parts of the caldera are currently occupied by the Taalsee.

After the caldera was formed, further volcanic eruptions led to the formation of an island called Volcano Island in the Taalsee. The island with a height of up to 311 meters has an area of ​​approximately 23 km² and consists of overlapping cinder cones , tuff rings and craters. 47 different craters and four maars were found on the island. Several thousand people live on Volcano Island .

In the middle of Volcano Island there is a crater lake with a diameter of about two kilometers, in which there is another island called Vulcan Point . The Vulcan Point is to the world's largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island have been, and has a diameter of about 40 meters. Volcano Island and the entire lake were declared Taal Volcano National Park in 1996.

Eruptions in historical times

There have been over 30 eruptions since 1572, mostly on Volcano Island . During the eruptions of 1707 and 1709, the cones Binintiang Malaki in the northwest and Binintiang Munti in the southwest of the island formed. In 1731 there was an eruption in the Taalsee, which resulted in Babuing and Napayong , two smaller islands northeast of Volcano Island . The 1754 eruption, the strongest in historical times, was dominated by Plinian , Sub-Plinian and Strombolian eruptions . The eruption temporarily blocked the drainage of the Taalsee; several locations were relocated as a result of the floods.

The outbreak of 1911 was preceded by earthquakes , some of which were felt in Manila. After a few smaller eruptions, a violent phreatomagmatic explosion occurred on January 30th , which triggered pyroclastic surges . Around 1,335 people died in the outbreak, including almost all residents of Volcano Island . Only 12 or 13 islanders survived seriously injured. Most of the people died from the surges; some drowned as a result of strong water level fluctuations in the Taalsee, so-called Seiches . After the eruption, Volcano Island and a valley southwest of the caldera sank by up to three meters; other areas rose up to three feet. The crater lake of Volcano Island has had its present form since 1911 ; previously there were several smaller lakes of different colors.

On September 28, 1965, there was a phreatomagmatic explosion, through which a crater 1.5 kilometers long and 300 meters wide formed in the southwest of Volcano Island , into which the water of the Taalsee flowed. The explosion caused a cloud of ash 15 to 20 kilometers high ; an area of ​​about 60 km² was covered with a layer of ash at least 25 centimeters thick. Pyroclastic surges destroyed areas on Vulcano Island and on the west bank of the Taalsee. About 355 people died in the outbreak. Further eruptions in 1968 and 1969 were partly characterized by strombolian activity and were accompanied by large lava flows that reached the banks of the Taalsee. The last time there were phreatic explosions in the southwest of the island was in 1977 .

After 1977 swarms of earthquakes occurred several times in the area of ​​the valley, which in 1994 were accompanied by uplifts of the island by 10 to 20 centimeters. Some of the islanders were evacuated.

On January 12, 2020, a large ash cloud formed over the volcano. In the ashes, there was a traffic accident in which a man died. At the international airport of Manila , the operation was discontinued because of the ash-fall. 308,000 people were temporarily evacuated from the area. Due to the decline in volcanic activity, the alert level was lowered from four to three on January 26, 2020, to level two on February 14, 2020, and to level one on March 19, 2020. The crater lake on Volcano Island was almost completely emptied during the eruptions.

Volcano monitoring

Because of its proximity to densely populated areas and its violent eruptions, the Taal was included in the list of 16 so-called Decade Volcanoes , which are the focus of research efforts. As with other volcanoes, seismic activity and deformation of the earth's surface are monitored. In addition, the temperature and chemical composition of the water in the crater lake are controlled. A few eruptions ago, the temperature of the lake water rose a few degrees.

Measurements of the radon concentration in the valley area in October 1994 found an increase by a factor of six. 22 days later, on November 15, 1994, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale followed , the epicenter of which was about 50 kilometers south of the volcano. The increase in radon concentration is seen as an indication of the subsequent earthquake.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Taal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RC Torres, S. Self, RS Punongbayan: Attention focuses on Taal: Decade volcano of the Philippines. In: EOS , Volume 76, number June 24, 13, 1995, pp. 241-247, DOI: 10.1029 / 95EO00137 (English).
  2. ^ Taal Volcano at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHILVOLCS, accessed February 26, 2013).
  3. ↑ Some interesting Islands and Lakes at www.elbruz.org (accessed February 26, 2013).
  4. ^ Christopher G. Newhall, Daniel Dzurisin: Historical unrest at large calderas of the world . USGS Bulletin 1855, 1988 (English, pdf, 37.0 MB), pp. 359-361.
  5. ^ Entry in The Significant Volcanic Eruption Database of NOAA (English, accessed on February 23, 2013).
  6. ^ Newhall, unrest , pp. 362f, 369.
  7. ↑ James G. Moore, Kazuaki Nakamura, Arturo Alcaraz: The 1965 Eruption of Taal Volcano. In: Science , Volume 151, Number 3713 (February 25, 1966), pp. 955-960.
  8. ^ Entry in The Significant Volcanic Eruption Database of NOAA (English, accessed on February 23, 2013).
  9. ↑ Monthly reports 01/1992, 02/1994, 01/2007. In: Global Volcanism Program. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009 ; accessed on May 13, 2014 (English).
  10. ↑ Accident in ash rain - volcanic eruption in the Philippines claims first death. January 13, 2020, accessed January 13, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Taal volcano spits ash and lava , tagesschau.de, January 13, 2020.
  12. ↑ Philippines: Taal Volcano Update Snapshot. (PDF; 360 kB) In: reliefweb.int . OCHA , January 27, 2020, accessed on January 27, 2020 (English).
  13. ↑ Taal Volcano status lowered to Alert Level 2. In: cnnphilippines.com . February 14, 2020, accessed on February 26, 2020.
  14. ↑ Taal Volcano Bulletin: March 19, 2020 8:00 AM. In: phivolcs.dost.gov.ph . March 19, 2020, accessed on August 19, 2020.
  15. ↑ Jonathan Amos: Taal volcano's inner lake all but gone in eruption. In: bbc.com . January 16, 2020, accessed on January 19, 2020.