Thursday, Nov 15, 2007
CVGHM lowered the Alert Status of Kelut on 8 November from 4 to 3 (on a scale of 1-4), due to a decrease in seismicity and deformation. Temperatures of the crater lake were measured at 75 deg C on 6 Nov, and 150-210 deg C on the surface of the new lava dome. According to a local news article, a volcanologist reported that the lava dome was 250 m in diameter and 120 m above the crater lake surface. On 11 November, a plume rose to an altitude of 3.7 km (12,000 ft) a.s.l. and ashfall was reported in several areas.
CVGHM recommended that evacuees could return to their homes, but should stay clear of the mountain within a 3-km radius was restricted. [more]
Kelud volcano / East Java / Indonesia, eruption update: lava is building up an island inside the crater lake
Thursday, Nov 08, 2007
There is still high activity inside the crater of mount Kelud. In the crater lake a small island is growing (probably a kind of lava dome). There is also a high seismic activity and many tremors that show upcomming lava. Steam from the cooking lake is rising up to 1000 m. It is possible that a big explosion may happen or a rupture of the new island inside the crater lake. The volcano is under close observation by volcanologists. ... [more]
Kelud volcanoKelud volcano (also spelled Kelut) is one of East Java's most active volcanoes. The volcano has a spectacular large crater that contains a lake, which was a popular weekend destination but also the origin of devastaating mud flows. In Oct-Nov 2007, a new lava dome grew within the lake to form an island, replacing most of the water.
Background:The relatively inconspicuous, 1731-m-high Kelud stratovolcano contains a summit crater lake that has been the source of some of Indonesia's most deadly eruptions. A cluster of summit lava domes cut by numerous craters has given the summit a very irregular profile. Satellitic cones and lava domes are also located low on the eastern, western, and SSW flanks. Eruptive activity has in general migrated in a clockwise direction around the summit vent complex. More than 30 eruptions have been recorded from Gunung Kelud since 1000 AD. The ejection of water from the crater lake during Kelud's typically short, but violent eruptions has created pyroclastic flows and lahars that have caused widespread fatalities and destruction. After more than 5000 persons were killed during an eruption in 1919, an ambitious engineering project sought to drain the crater lake. This initial effort lowered the lake by more than 50 m, but the 1951 eruption deepened the crater by 70 m, leaving 50 million cubic meters of water after repair of the damaged drainage tunnels. After more than 200 deaths in the 1966 eruption, a new deeper tunnel was constructed, and the lake's volume before the 1990 eruption was only about 1 million cubic meters.