This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Montserrat.
| Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| metres | feet | |||
| Centre Hills [1] | 741 | 2,431 | 16°45′32″N62°11′46″W / 16.759°N 62.196°W | 0.95-0.55 million years ago [2] |
| Silver Hills [3] | 403 | 1,322 | 16°48′36″N62°11′38″W / 16.81°N 62.194°W | 2.58-1.16 million years ago [2] |
| Soufrière Hills [4] | 915 | 3,002 | 16°43′N62°11′W / 16.71°N 62.18°W | 2013 CE [5] |
| South Soufrière Hills [2] | ? | ? | 16°42′00″N62°10′00″W / 16.7°N 62.166667°W | 1.47–1.27 million years ago [6] |
The Soufrière Hills is an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and continued to erupt through 2010. Its last eruption was in 2013. Its eruptions have rendered more than half of Montserrat uninhabitable, destroying the capital city, Plymouth, and causing widespread evacuations: about two-thirds of the population have left the island. Chances Peak in the Soufrière Hills was the highest summit on Montserrat until the mid-1990s, but it has since been eclipsed by various rising and falling volcanic domes during the recent volcanic activity.
In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on Earth form lava domes. The geochemistry of lava domes can vary from basalt to rhyolite although the majority are of intermediate composition The characteristic dome shape is attributed to high viscosity that prevents the lava from flowing very far. This high viscosity can be obtained in two ways: by high levels of silica in the magma, or by degassing of fluid magma. Since viscous basaltic and andesitic domes weather fast and easily break apart by further input of fluid lava, most of the preserved domes have high silica content and consist of rhyolite or dacite.
La Soufrière or Soufrière Saint Vincent is an active volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is the highest peak on Saint Vincent, and has had eight recorded eruptions since 1718. The latest eruptive activity began on 27 December 2020 with the slow extrusion of a dome of lava, and culminated in a series of explosive events between 9 and 22 April 2021.
Chances Peak is a summit of the active complex stratovolcano named Soufrière Hills, the youngest volcanic complex on the island of Montserrat, a British overseas territory located in the Caribbean Sea. It was the highest point on the island until the mid-1990s, when fluctuating volcanic domes during the 1995–1999 Soufrière Hills eruptions eclipsed the peak in height. The Soufriere Hills volcano is on a destructive plate margin, and is part of the Eastern Caribbean Volcanic Arc. This volcanic arc lies on the Caribbean plate, and has formed by subduction of the North American Plate beneath it.
