Soufriere, St. Vincent, West Indies

Location: 13.3N, 61.2W
Elevation: 4,000 feet (1,220 m)

Soufriere of the island of St. Vincent is about 180 miles (300 km) south of the volcano with the same name on Guadeloupe. Soufriere on St. Vincent is a far more dangerous volcano. It is a stratovolcano with a crater lake. Violent eruption occurred in 1718, 1812, and 1902. The 1902 eruption killed 1,600 people. There were also eruptions in 1971-1972 and 1979. The 1979 eruption started with less than 24 hours of precursor activity. The first episode lasted less than two weeks. It was vulcanian in character and sent steam and tephra as high as 12 miles (20 km). The second episode consisted of the quiet extrusion of a basaltic andesite lava dome. People were successfully evacuated and there were no fatalities. Fiske (1984) described the scientific response to this crisis. Photograph by Richard Fiske, April 22, 1979. The column is about 4 miles (6 km) tall. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Sources of Information:

Fiske, R.S., and Sigurdsson, H., 1982, Soufriere volcano, St. Vincent: Observations of its 1979 eruption from the ground, aircraft, and satellites: Science, v. 216, p. 1105-1126.

Fiske, R.S., 1984, Volcanologists, journalists, and the concerned public: A tale of two crises in the eastern Caribbean, in Explosive Volcanism: Inception, evolution, and hazards: Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, p.

Shepard, J.B., Aspinall, W.P., Rowley, K.C., and others, 1979, The eruption of Soufriere volcano, St. Vincent, April-June, 1979: Nature, v. 282, p. 24-28.

Shepard, J.B., and Sigurdsson, H., 1982, Mechanism of the 1979 explosive eruption of Soufriere volcano, St. Vincent: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 13, p. 119-130.

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



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