The andesitic dome-building eruption of Soufrère Hills Volcano wreaked havoc on the small Caribbean island of Montserrat. About half of this ‘Emerald Isle’ was rendered barren and uninhabitable, almost two-thirds of the original population had to leave, ...

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Like many people, I first encountered Peter through his book Volcanoes. It was listed amongst about thirty titles that I was advised by my college to digest before going to university (I confess it was the only one of them I read). It accompanied ...

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The eruption on Montserrat during 1995-1999 was the most destructive in the Caribbean volcanic arc since that of Mont Pelee (Martinique) in 1902. It began on 18 July 1995 at the site of the most recent previous activity, on the flank of a c. 350-...

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The eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat (1995-1999) has displayed a wide range of volcanic phenomena: growth of an andesitic lava dome, generation of pyroclastic flows by lava dome collapse and by fountain collapse in explosive ...

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The Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) is a statutory body of the Government of Montserrat and is the organization responsible for volcano monitoring operations on the island. It was formed shortly after the first phreatic explosions from ...

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⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating has facilitated a substantial reinterpretation of the volcanic evolution of Montserrat. Three volcanic centres with non-overlapping volcanic activity are identified: Silver Hills (c. 2600 to c. 1200 ka); Centre Hills (at least c. ...

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Eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat allowed the detailed documentation of a Pélean dome-forming eruption. Dome growth between November 1995 and March 1998 produced over 0.3 km³ of crystal-rich andesitic lava. Discharge rates ...

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Growth of the andesitic lava dome during eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat involved general increases in discharge rate and dome height with superposed fluctuations on timescales from hours to months. We have modelled magma conduit ...

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Between 3 January 1996 and 1 December 1998 at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, there were 27150 seismic signals attributable to rockfalls and pyroclastic flows. Large (1-4 x 10⁶m³) and major (>4 x 10⁶m³) dome collapses began to occur after the ...

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On 25 June 1997, an unsteady, retrogressive, partial collapse of the lava dome at Soufrière Hills Volcano lasted 25 minutes and generated a major pulsatory block-and-ash flow, associated pyroclastic surges and a surge-derived pyroclastic flow that ...

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Eyewitness and survivor accounts allow reconstruction of the sequence of events on 25 June 1997, when a sustained partial collapse of the lava dome occurred leading to the death of 19 people. An unsteady pyroclastic flow was generated with three ...

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Pyroclastic flows were formed at Soufrière Hills Volcano by lava-dome collapse and by fountain collapse associated with Vulcanian explosions. Major episodes of dome collapse, lasting tens of minutes to a few hours, followed escalating patterns of ...

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Gravitational collapses of the lava dome at Soufrière Hills Volcano on 25 June and 26 December 1997 generated pyroclastic surges that spread out over broad sectors of the landscape and laid down thin, bipartite deposits. In each case, part of the ...

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In 1997 Soufriére Hills Volcano on Montserrat produced 88 Vulcanian explosions: 13 between 4 and 12 August and 75 between 22 September and 21 October. Each episode was preceded by a large dome collapse that decompressed the conduit and led to the ...

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Magmatic explosive activity at Soufrière Hills Volcano involved a sub-Plinian eruption, on 17 September 1996 and two series of repetitive short-lived (c. 1 min) Vulcanian explosions in 1997. Explosive activity followed major collapses of the dome. ...

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This paper presents numerical models of the Vulcanian explosions that occurred in 1997 at Soufrière Hills Volcano. Plume evolution and velocities were calculated for the well-documented and typical explosions of 6 and 7 August 1997, and these data ...

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During the 1995 to 1998 phase of dome growth at Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat, we documented instability of the steep southern rim of English's Crater, known as Galway's Wall. The horseshoe-shaped English's Crater provided good evidence ...

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The southern sector of Soufrière Hills Volcano failed on 26 December 1997 (Boxing Day), after a year of disturbance culminating in a devastating eruptive episode. Sector collapse produced a c. 50 x 10⁶m³ volcanic debris avalanche, and ...

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Growth of an andesitic lava dome at Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, beginning in November 1995, caused instability of a hydrothermally altered flank of the volcano. Catastrophic failure occurred on 26 December 1997, 14 months after the ...

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At 03:01 (local time) on 26 December 1997, major sector collapse followed by collapse of the andesitic lava dome occurred at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat. The collapse of the dome involved explosive disintegration and formation of a highly ...

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Abstract: We calculate the gas flux through a pressurized and permeable lava dome as magma slowly ascends to the surface and degasses. This provides an estimate of the mass of gas and the associated energy that may be released following the ...

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Dome growth at Soufrière Hills Volcano halted in early March 1998. After dome growth ceased, seismicity reduced significantly, but activity related to dome disintegration and degassing of magma at depth continued. A sustained episode of ...

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Four mechanisms caused tephra fallout at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, during the 1995-1999 period: explosive activity (mainly of Vulcanian type), dome collapses, ash-venting and phreatic explosions. The first two mechanisms contributed ...

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Hazardous effects of tephra fallout on Montserrat include roof collapse, aviation threats, health hazards from respirable crystalline silica, crop pollution, road safety and lahar generation. An advection-diffusion model was developed to ...

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The 26 December 1997 explosive activity of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, provided an opportunity to study the evolution of a volcanic cloud by merging data from various satellites with wind-trajectory data. The activity involved a debris ...

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A programme of air quality monitoring was devised to investigate concentrations and behaviour of repirable ash in the air on Montserrat. Sampling strategies used were short environmental tests, occupational tests, and continuous environmental ...

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On 18 July 1995, after more than three years of irregularly increasing seismicity, phreatic explosions opened a new vent on Soufrière Hills Volcano, about 4 km east of the capital city of Plymouth, Montserrat. By early August 1995, the volcano was ...

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Radar measurements from space are used to help monitor the evolution of a Peléean eruption on Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, during 1996 to April 1999. Data from four radar systems are used: ERS-1, ERS-2, Radarsat and JERS-1. We demonstrate ...

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One of the most common types of seismic event recorded during the eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano from 1995 to 1999 is known as a rockfall signal because signals recorded when rockfalls were observed on the dome are of this type. Evidence is ...

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Abstract: A stationary two-phase magma model is used to derive the relationship between gas mass and volume fractions, gas and magma bulk densities, temperature and pressure as a function of depth. In turn, these parameters are used to obtain the ...

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The 1995-1999 extrusive phase of the eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat was dominated by low-frequency volcanic earthquakes (also called long-period and hybrid earthquakes). These earthquakes have distinctive peaked spectra and ...

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We present here the results of open-path Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy of gases emitted from the lava dome of Soufrière Hills Volcano. Although measurement campaigns have been discontinuous, they do span a three-year period and ...