The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has reported a pair of Eruptions on the Mount Langila Volcanic Complex on New Britain, Papua New Guinea, this month. The first occurred on Thursday 17-Friday 18 May, and the second on Monday 21-Tuesday 22 May 2018. Both eruptions produced ash columns that rose to 2.1-2.4 km above sealevel and drifted to the west.
The approximate location of the Langila Volcanic Complex. Google Maps.
Mount Langila is an active complex volcano comprised of four overlapping
craters emerging from the northeast flank of the extinct Talawe Volcano
on Cape Gloucester at the western tip of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
The volcano has produced numerous explosive eruptions ever since it was
first recorded in the mid-nineteenth century, and is flanked to the
northeast by a lava field which runs to the sea. The newest crater was
created during an explosive eruption in 1960 that produced 10 000 cubic
meters of lava.
New Britain lies on the boundary between the South Bismarck and Solomon
Sea tectonic plates. The Solomon Sea Plate is being subducted beneath
the South Bismarck Plate, which causes friction as the plates rub
together, occasionally leading to Earthquakes. As the Solomon Sea Plate
sinks into the Earth it is melted by the heat of the planets interior.
Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying South
Bismarck Plate, fuelling the volcanoes of New Britain.
The subduction of the Solomon Sea Plate beneath New Britain. Oregon State University.
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