Semeru, Indonesia rumbling to life

Semeru, Indonesia

People living around Semeru Volcano, Indonesia, have been put on alert for a potential eruption. Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has put the volcano on level 3 (of 4) alert and said "not to conduct activity at a radius of 4 kilometres from the crater, especially around the south-east of the volcano's slopes." There have also been reports of ash clouds (or steam) being vented from the crater.

Semeru is a very active volcano in a country full of active volcanoes. It has been erupting since 1967, quite a long span for any stratovolcano to be constantly showing signs of eruption. It is likely to erupt pyroclastic material, lava flows and domes and create lahars - it is quite the textbook volcano!

More like this

Bárðarbunga is arguably the scariest of the 30 or so active volcanoes in Iceland. Extreme volcanoes don't always have extreme eruptions, but they are scary because they have the capability for extreme events, uniquely so. Bárðarbunga - under the ice cap at the top left - from Google maps It is…
Do you like volcanoes? Italian volcanoes? If so, it's not hard to guess the one you're thinking of: the largest volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world, Mount Etna. And if you have any questions about this famous fulminator, head over to Eruptions, where guest blogger Dr. Boris…
Welcome to version 2.0 of Eruptions, the blog on volcanic eruptions and volcano research in general. I've been writing this blog (starting over on Wordpress) over the last year or so, but now it has found a new home here at ScienceBlogs. If you're wondering what to expect if you're new to…
Time for a little game. What does this photo represent? Can you work out what happened here? One clue: the skeleton belonged to a large mammal. Sorry the pic is in black-and-white and a bit fuzzy, it's the best version of the image I have (a colour version exists somewhere - please do pass it on…