Bamus, Ulawun, and Lolobau
--New Britain--
Page Last Updated: 2 February 2001
Space Shuttle photo SL3-0121-2400 looking west along central and east New
Britain. New Ireland is in the bottom right.
Volcanoes of the eastern arc (New Britain Island) in the south Bismarck Sea.
From Johnson (1976).
Bamus, New Britain
Location: 5.2S, 151.2E
Elevation: 2248 m
Bamus is a stratovolcano with four Holocene eruptions: 345 BC, 270 BC,
1645 AD, and 1886 AD. All eruptions were explosive and generated pyroclastic
flows.
Ulawun, New Britain
Location: 5.04S, 151.34E
Elevation: 2,334 m
Ulawun is the most active volcano of New Britain, with 22 historic eruptions
since 1700. Most eruptions are moderate to moderate-large (VEI=2-3) in
size. Fours eruptions have caused damage. The most recent eruption was in
1993. Most of the eruptions are explosive and many have generated
pyroclastic flows. The 1984-85 eruption produced a lava dome and flows.
Lolobau, New Britain
Location: 4.9S, 151.2E
Elevation: 858 m
Lolobau is a caldera that caps a stratovolcano. Lolobau has had four recent
eruptions. A large eruption (VEI=4) in 1100 was dated by the carbon-14
method. There were historic eruptions in 1904-05, 1908, and 1911-12. The
1904-05 eruption was large, producing a Plinian eruption column. The
1911-12 eruption was also large (VEI=4). Between 1937 and 1950, solfatara
activity increased in Lolobau Crater but it stopped entirely in 1969.
Space Shuttle photo STS048-0103-0047 looking west along central and east New
Britain.
Sources of Information:
Johnson, R.W., 1976, Late Cainozoic volcanism and plate tectonics at the
southern margin of the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea, in Johnson, R.W.,
ed., 1976, Volcanism in Australia: Amsterdam, Elsevier, p. 101-116.
Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience Press,
Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.
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