Montserrat Case Study

Montserrat Case Study

Location:

Montserrat is a small island is situated in the Caribbean and 12 miles long and 7 miles wide. Chances Peak Volanco erupted extremely violently and for the first time in over 300 years on 25 June 1997 at approximately 1 p.m. Chances Peak is located on the Soufiere Hills which is the highest point in Montserrat.

Causes:

Montserrat is situated on a destructive plate boundary which is where two different plates meet, and one plate is subducted underneath the other. In this case the North American plate is being subducted underneath the Caribbean continental plate. This causes large amounts of friction and heat which melts the rock resulting in magma building up underneath the Caribbean plate. When the pressure reaches a high level, the magma is then forced up and out of the Caribbean plate in the form of a volcanic eruption. 

Effects:

1.     The pyroclastic flow from the volcanic eruption covered at least 4km squared of land.

2.     A significant amount of lava covered large parts of Montserrat…