INDONESIA: Magma pushing through Indonesian volcano's crater

A senior volcanologist says that magma is pushing through the blocked crater of Indonesia's Mount Kelud, causing boiling water to spill down its sides. A senior volcanologist said on Monday (November 5) that Indonesia's Mount Kelud volcano was dangerously close to an eruption, as magma pushed through the crater that had been blocked by a previous eruption, causing boiling water to spill its sides. "It is true from the October 16 crisis to the latest crisis on November 3, the magma's energy was not enough to break up the lava of the 1990 eruption that blocked the crater and that is the answer," said Surono, the head of Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. In the history of Mount Kelud steam has never spewed from the crater; normally Kelud erupts and sweeps away everything in its path. "This is the first time in history that steam has appeared from the Kelud crater; normally after crisis comes eruption," Surono added. Water levels in the lake have also fallen because of cracks in the hardened crater surface, damaging essential equipment used to monitor Mount Kelud, which has been on the verge of an eruption for several weeks. Authorities have been monitoring the 1,731-metre (5,700-foot) volcano for several weeks and raised its alert status to the highest level about two weeks ago as its activity increased and an eruption appeared imminent. The deadly volcano spewed ash about 500 metres into the air on Saturday (November 3), a day after confusion over whether it had already started erupting. A scientist monitoring the volcano said that authorities had not measured the water temperature in the Crater Lake since Sunday afternoon because of the damaged equipment. Scientists have suggested that hardened lava from previous eruptions could be blocking the release of magma, and warn this could burst out once sufficient energy has built up. Officials at the volcanology centre said on Saturday that the volcano had erupted while hidden by heavy cloud cover, but later they said that an eruption had not in fact taken place. An estimated 350,000 people live within 10 km (6 miles) of the volcano, which is about 90 km southwest of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city and one of its busiest airports. Kelud, also known as Kelut, means "sweeper" in Javanese, a reference to the fact that when it erupts, it sweeps away everything in its path. When it last erupted in 1990 at least 30 people were killed, while about 5,000 died in 1919 when it spewed scalding water from its crater lake. Indonesia has the highest number of active volcanoes of any country, sitting on a belt of intense seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

ITN Source | November 6, 2007

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