Taal Volcano logs more phreatic eruptions

STILL RESTIVE Volcanic smog or “vog” envelops Taal Volcano in Batangas province in this photo taken at 3:30 p.m. from Tagaytay City in Cavite on Sept. 9, 2024. – The volcano, continued its phreatic or steam-driven eruptions with three more events detected on Friday, September 27, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported Saturday. —PHOTO COURTESY OF SHIELA TAN

LUCENA CITY — Taal Volcano in Batangas province continued its phreatic or steam-driven eruptions with three more events detected on Friday, September 27, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.

In its Saturday morning bulletin, the Phivolcs said the three eruptions on Friday, locally called “pusngat,” lasted two to eight minutes.

On Thursday, September 26, Taal Volcano logged three phreatic eruptions and another one on Wednesday, September 25.

Phivolcs defines a phreatic eruption as a “steam-driven explosion that occurs when water beneath the ground or on the surface is heated by magma, lava, hot rocks, or new volcanic deposits (for example, tephra and pyroclastic-flow deposits).”

READ: Taal Volcano update: Phreatic eruption logged; Alert Level 1 stays

The unrest, however, is unlikely to progress into a magmatic eruption based on the background levels of volcanic earthquake activity and the detected ground deformation, Phivolcs pointed out.

During the past 24 hours, the volcano’s main crater showed a “voluminous emission” of 3,176 metric tons (MT) of sulfur dioxide, which rose to 2,100 meters and drifted northeast.

READ: ‘Vog’ reappears after Taal Volcano emits voluminous sulfur dioxide

State volcanologists also observed an “upwelling of hot volcanic fluids” in the main crater lake of the volcano, located on Taal Volcano Island, locally known as “Pulo,” which sits in the middle of Taal Lake.

No earthquake was recorded during this latest monitoring period.

Taal Volcano is still under alert level 1 (low level of volcanic unrest), Phivolcs said.

it also reminded the public that the volcano remained in an “abnormal condition” and “should not be interpreted to have ceased unrest nor ceased the threat of eruptive activity.”