The volcanoes of San Miguel Island and nearby waters based on van Padang and others (1967).
The volcanoes of San Miguel Island and nearby waters based on van Padang
and
others (1967).
This Space Shuttle photo looks across the Island of Sao Miguel. The
caldera of Sete Cidades is visible on the west end of the island (left
side in photo). The caldera of Agua de Pau is visible near the center
of the island. Space Shuttle photo STS41G-0034-0100.
This unnamed group of pyroclastic cones had a single historic eruption in
1652. The eruption was explosive (VEI=2) and accompanied by lava flows.
Agua de Pau, a stratovolcano with a caldera, erupted in 1563 and 1564.
The
1563 eruption was at the Cerro Qurimado vent on the northwest flank of the
caldera. The eruption lasted almost a month and was initailly
Plinian
and
later produced lava flows that caused some damage. The 1564 eruption
lasted
only two days and was near Lagoa do Fogo caldera. It may have been a
phreatic eruption. Thick pumice deposits on the flank
of
the volcano are probably the result of caldera-forming eruptions.
Furnas is a stratovolcano with a large summit caldera about 4 miles (6 km)
in diameter and 1,000-1,200 feet (300-400 m) deep. There is a beautiful
lake
on the west side of the caldera. There is a solfatara on the east side of
the caldera. The only historic eruption of Furnas was in 1630. It lasted
about a week and was on the south rim of the caldera, at the Pico de Areia
vent. This large (VEI=4) violent, pumice-forming explosive eruption was
probably Vulcanian in type.
The eruption formed a lava dome and produced pyroclastic flows. Ejecta fell over most of the
island. More than 200 fatalities were caused by mudflows. The Povoacao
caldera is extinct.
The submarine volcano at Monaco Bank has erupted in 1907 and 1911.
Booth, B., Croasdale, R., and Walker, G.P.L., 1978, A quantitative study
of
five thousand years of volcanism on Sao Miguel, Azores: Phil. Transactions
of the Royal Society of London, Series A, v. 288, p. 271-319.
Martin, J.A., 1982, Excursion guide for field trip V1, Islands of Sao
Miguel: Proceedings International Symposium Activity Oceanic Volcanoes,
Archipelago University Azores, 3: p. 315-328.
Moore, R.B., 1983, Preliminary geologic map of Furnas volcano, Sao Miguel,
Azores: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 83-395.
Moore, R.B., 1986, Preliminary geologic map of Agua de Pau volcano, Sao
Miguel, Azores: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 86-192.
Moore, R.B., 1990, Volcanic geology and eruption frequency, Sao Miguel,
Azores: Bulletin of Volcanology, v. 52, p. 602-614.
Neumann van Padang, M., Richards, A.F., Machado, F., Bravo, T., Baker, E.,
Le Maitre, W., 1967, Part XXI, Atlantic Ocean: Catalogue of the active
volcanoes of the world, International Association of Volcanology, Rome,
Italy, 128 p.
Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience
Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.
Unnamed, San Miguel, Azores
Location: 37.8N, 25.7W
Elevation: 1,148 feet (350 m)
Agua de Pau, San Miguel, Azores
Location: 37.8N, 25.5W
Elevation: 3,106 feet (947 m)
Furnas, San Miguel, Azores
Location: 37.8N, 25.3W
Elevation: 2,640 feet (805 m)
Monaco Bank, Azores
Location: 37.6N, 25.9W
Elevation: -646 feet (-197 m)
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