Soufriere Hills Volcanic Eruption

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Soufriere Hills Volcanic Eruption

Causes

  • Destructive plate boundary (convergent)
  • North American plate being forced (subducted) under the Caribbean plate
  • Convection currents pull the plate into the mantel causing it to melt
  • The molten rock is lighter than the surrounding rocks, which causes it to rise through cracks towards the Earth's surface

Effects

  • In August 1997, a series of pyroclastic flow and lahars (mudflows) destroyed the Capital city of Plymouth
  • By 1997, up to 9000 people emigrated to the USA and the UK
  • 19 people were killed in the 1997 eruption, in the exclusion zone. 6 of them were found outside houses, where they had been attempting to seek shelter
  • The pyroclastic flow broke and flattened thousands of trees. Soil was baked hard. During the eruption, 5 million cubic metres of rock and ash were deposited
  • Montserrat was cut of from air travel in 1995 when the volcano destroyed Bramble airport. It was not until the new St Gerald's airport was opened in July 2005 that international travel could resume
  • After the 1997 eruption, the villages of farm and trant were completely buried by ash flow deposits
  • The eruption of June 1997 destroyed 100-150 houses located within the exclusion zone
  • The pyroclastic flow caused many rivers and valleys to become blocked leading to extensive flooding

Overall summary

The volcano in Montserrat, located in the Caribbean. It is north-west of Guadeloupe. It is on a destructive plate boundary, (convergent plate boundary) which caused magma to rise through cracks towards the surface. There were two eruptions, one in 1995 and another in 1997.

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