Lopevi (16.5S, 168.3E) stratovolcano forms a small island in Vanuatu. Lopevi has erupted at least 22 times since 1863, most recently in 1982.

 

 


June 17, 2003

A thick plume, ~9 km in diameter, rose to ~7.5 km above sea level and drifted SE on June 11. Shorter ones rising to heights of 2.5 km were also observed on June 13 and 14. A thin lava flow was visible on the volcano's W flank. The current activity is further believed to be causing acid rain in the area.

This information was summarized from Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program.


June 10, 2003

A thick ash cloud, invisible on satellite images, rising 12 km above sea level was emitted from Lopevi on 8 June. In the afternoon of the 9th, a black 18.5-km-wide, ash cloud was visible rising to ~2.7 km above sea level and drifting SE.

This information was summarized from Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program.


15 June 2001

On 8 June, the Lopevi volcano began erupting and produced an ash cloud that rose ~ 6 km a.s.l. More than 0.9 m of ash settled on the uninhabited island of Lopevi and several inches of ash fell on the island of Paama. Paama's water supply was contaminated and crops were severaly damaged by the ash and gas. The inhabitants of Paama suffered from respiratory problems as a result of breathing the ash and gas.

This information was summarized from Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program.


 

Cross-section of upper mantle and crust beneath Lopevi, northern Vanuatu volcanic arc. The eastward-moving Australian Plate, here made of oceanic crust and upper mantle, is subducted beneath the westward-moving Pacific Plate. Lopevi is on the Pacific Plate. The lack of earthquakes between 50 and 200 km depth suggests that the subducted plate has broken into two pieces. Magma is generated at a greater depth, relative to the southern Vanuatu volcanic arc. Rocks melt where the mantle in the asthenosphere is modified by fluids leaving the subducted plate. Compare to the tectonic setting of Lopevi, northern Vanuatu volcanic arc. Arrows show direction of flowing rocks in the asthenospheric mantle. From Monzier and others (1997).

 


Sources of Information:

Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience Press, Tucson, AZ, 349 p.

McClelland, L., Simkin, T., Summers, M., Nielsen, E., and Stein, T.C., 1989, Global Volcanism 1975-1985, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 655 p.

Latitude (DD): 
-16.51
Longitude (dd): 
168.35
Elevation (m): 
1413
Country: 
Vanuatu
Type: 
Stratovolcano