Tangkuban Perahu, a 2084 m high stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made of layers of ash and lava) in West Java, about 30 km to the north of the city of Bandung, erupted suddenly on the afternoon of Friday 26 July 2019, throwing ash about hundreds of metres into the air while about a hundred tourists were gathered around the rim of the crater. All of the visitors were evacuated promptly, but two required hospital treatment for breathing difficulties. Access to the area has now been closed off until the area is judged to be safe again.
An explosion in the crater of the Tangkuban Perahu volcano in West Java on Friday 26 July 2019. 9 News.
The Indo-Australian Plate, which underlies the Indian Ocean to the south of Java, is being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate, a breakaway part of the Eurasian Plate which underlies Java and neighbouring Sumatra, along the Sunda Trench, passing under Java, where friction between the two plates can cause Earthquakes. As the Indo-Australian Plate sinks further into the Earth it is partially melted and some of the melted material rises through the overlying Sunda Plate as magma, fuelling the volcanoes of Java and Sumatra.
Subduction along the Sunda Trench. Earth Observatory of Singapore.
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