Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion Island), eruption warning

Piton de la Fournaise volcano greets the new year with its first eruption in 2010 on 2 January. A fissure vent inside the Dolomieu summit crater erupted lava fountains and a lava flow contained inside the crater, deepened by the large eruption in 2008. The eruption followed a gradual increase inseismic activity since Dec 28. The last, very short-lived eruption happened just about 3 weeks ago, and it seems likely that Piton de la Fournaise has entered a period of frequent but short eruptions, fed by dikes in its highly fractured summit zone, forming of a relatively permeable central plumbing system. ... Read all

OVPDLF reported that a seismic crisis at Piton de la Fournaise on 29 December was characterized by numerous earthquakes in the area W and NW of Dolomieu crater (max M 3), at depths of 1.1-2.2 km below the summit. Deformation was also detected. On 31 December, OVPDLF reported decreased seismicity and fewer landslides within Dolomieu crater on 30 and 31 December. ... Read all