What is the most active volcano in the U.S., in the Northern Hemisphere, in the Southern Hemisphere, in the world and in the universe?

rocky Kellie Morrison

Dear Kellie,

It probably depends on how you want to define most active (number of eruptions or duration of eruptions or volume of material erupted). Here are some of the top contenders.

The most active volcano in the U.S. is Kilauea in Hawaii. Kilauea has been erupting nearly continuously since January 1983.

The most active volcanoes in the Northern Hemisphere are: Erta Ale (Ethiopia, erupting for 30 years), Etna (Italy, erupting for 3,500 years), Kilauea (Hawaii, 74 eruptions since 1790) or Mauna Loa (Hawaii, 40 eruptions since 1750?), Sakura-jima (Japan, 39 eruptions since 709 AD, erupting 1955 to present), Aso (Japan, most historic explosive eruptions of any volcano in the world; 167 since 553 AD), Colima (Mexico, 52 eruptions since 1560), Santa Maria (Guatemala, erupting since 1922), and Masaya (Nicaragua, almost continuously active since first documented eruption in 1524).

The most active volcanoes in the Southern Hemisphere are: Nyiragongo (Zaire, 50 year lava lake ended in 1977), Piton de la Fournaise (Reunion Island, 153 eruptions since 1640), Marapi (Sumatra, Indonesia, 59 eruptions since 1770, current eruption began in 1987), Cotopaxi (Ecuador, 59 eruptions since 1532, leads the world's volcanoes in number of historic eruptions (27) that produced mudflows), Villarrica (Chile, 53 eruptions since 1558), Erebus (Antarctica, erupting since 1972).

Etna, which has been erupting for 3,500 years, is probably the most active volcano in the world.
Volcan Aka on the planet Christina, the fourth planet in the Beta Centari system, is the most active volcano in the universe (just kidding, we won't know about volcanoes in the universe for awhile).

Thanks for an enlightening question.

Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota

Sources of Information:

McClelland, L., Simkin, T., Summers, M., Nielson, E., Stein, T.C., 1989, Global volcanism 1975-1985: Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, 655 p.

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

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