Event Name : Augustine 1963/10
|Start:||October 11, 1963 ||Observed|
|Stop:||August 19, 1964 ||Observed|
|Lava flow: ||
|Lahar, debris-flow, or mudflow: ||
|Pyroclastic flow, surge, or nuee ardente: ||
|Lava dome: ||
|Directed blast: ||
|Tephra plume: ||
|Central eruption: ||
|Duration: ||10 months ||
|Eruption Product: || andesite ||
|MaxVEI: ||2 ||
|ColHeight: ||10600 m ||
From Kienle and Swanson (1985): "On October 11, 1963, Augustine burst into activity again, sending an ash column to about 3,000 m and a pyroclastic flow down the flank of the volcano, which set fire to brush on the lower slopes. According to Detterman (1968), the eruption continued intermittently for about 10 months, with major explosions recorded on November 17, 1963, July 5 and August 19, 1964. Presumably, during one or more of the earlier vent clearing eruptions in late 1963 ash was dispersed in a northeasterly direction and preserved in the varved sediments of Skilak Lake, 210 km distant (Rymer and Sims, 1976).
"According to reports from field parties of the Pan American Petroleum Corporation (D.H. Reno, communication to R.B. Forbes) there was no unusual precursor activity during the summer 1963 field season, which terminated mid-July, but in the June-July 1964 field season the volcano was reported to be quite active and considerable ash was encountered on the mountains on the mainland up to 15 km west of Augustine. Where the ash was not disturbed it was a maximum of about 2.5 cm deep.
"Detterman (1968) reports that the cone emitted smoke and steam all through 1965 and 1966, before he actually visited the island to map the deposits of the 1963/64 eruption in 1967. Detterman thought that the initial eruption was a nuee ardente eruption directed toward the southeast and originating at the base of the 1935 summit tholoid. It allegedly blew out a section of crater wall '3,200 feet long, 500 feet high and 700 feet thick'.
"The 1963/64 eruptions greatly altered the summit configuration and finally a new dome emerged in the new crater southeast of the remnant of the 1935 summit tholoid. By September 1964 it had completely filled the crater, engulfed what was left of the eastern and southern crater rim and stood much higher than the original 1935 summit."
Detterman (1968) estimates the volume of debris flow at 0.09 cubic km, an estimate considered high by Kienle and Swanson (1985). Newhall and Melson (1983) list a "new dome" volume of 0.066 cubic km.