Eruption on Mount Kanloan causes ashfall events across Negros Island.

Mount Kanlaon, a 2465 m stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and lava) on the northern part of Negros Island in the central Philippines, erupted slightly before 3.40 pm local time on Thursday 19 February 2026, according to the Philippines Volcano Observatories. The eruption comprised a series of explosions which lasted about two minutes and produced an ash column about 2 km high, and followed by a longer period of gas emissions. 

An eruption on Mount Kanloan, Negros Island, the Philippines, on Thursday 18 February 2026. Philippines Volcano Observatories.

The geology of the Philippines is complex, with the majority of the islands located on the east of the Sunda Plate. To the east of this lies the Philippine Sea plate, which is being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate (a breakaway part of the Eurasian Plate); further east, in the Mariana Islands, the Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. This is not a smooth process, and the rocks of the tectonic plates frequently stick together before eventually being broken apart by the rising pressure, leading to Earthquakes in the process. Material from the subducting Philippine Plate is heated by the temperature of the Earth's interior, causing lighter minerals to melt and the resultant magma to rise through the overlying Sunda Plate, fuelling the volcanoes of the Philippines.

Subduction beneath the Philippines. Yves Descatoire/Singapore Earth Observatory.

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