Mount Lamington

Last updated
Mount Lamington
Mount Lamington 1951.jpg
After the devastating 1951 eruption
Highest point
Elevation 1,680 m (5,510 ft) [1]
Coordinates 8°57′S148°09′E / 8.95°S 148.15°E / -8.95; 148.15 [1]
Geography
Papua New Guinea relief map.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Mount Lamington
Geology
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Last eruption January 1956 [1]

Mount Lamington is an andesitic stratovolcano in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. The forested peak of the volcano had not been recognised as such until its devastating eruption in 1951 that caused about 3,000 deaths. [1]

Contents

The volcano rises to 1680 meters above the coastal plain north of the Owen Stanley Range. A summit complex of lava domes and crater remnants rises above a low-angle base of volcaniclastic deposits that are dissected by radial valleys. A prominent broad "avalanche valley" extends northward from the breached crater. [1]

The mountain was named after Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington who was Governor of Queensland. [2]

1951 eruption

Mount Lamington began to erupt on the night of January 18, 1951. Three days later there was a violent eruption when a large part of the northern side of the mountain was blown away and devastating pyroclastic flows poured from the gap for a considerable time afterwards.

Devastation caused by the 1951 eruption caused a Jeep to become stuck in a tree Mount Lamington devastation.jpg
Devastation caused by the 1951 eruption caused a Jeep to become stuck in a tree

The area of extreme damage extended over a radius of about 12 km, while people near Higaturu, 14 km from the volcano, were killed by the blast or burned to death. The pyroclastic flows and subsequent eruptions of dust and ash which filled streams and tanks, caused the death of some 3,000 people, and considerable damage. [1] More than 5,000 people were made homeless. [3] [Note 1]

Rescue parties which arrived on the scene were hampered by suffocating pumice dust and sulphurous fumes, and hot ashes on the ground. The advance post of relief workers at Popondetta was threatened with destruction by other eruptions during the several days following. Further tremors and explosions occurred during February. As late as 5 March a major eruption occurred which threw large pieces of the volcanic dome as far as three kilometers and caused a flow of pumice and rocks for a distance of 14 km, the whole time being so hot as to set fire to every tree in its path. The pyroclastic flow created from this eruption destroyed about 200 square kilometers of land.

Volcanologist and former Australian Army Warrant Officer, Tony Taylor, studied the volcano during the eruption cycle. His work is credited to saving lives by informing rescue parties when it was safe to go into the area. In 1952 he was awarded a George Cross for his efforts. [4]

See also

Notes

Footnotes
  1. One figure for total number of deaths is 3,466 people, see Downs 1999 , p. 24.
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Lamington". Global Volcanism Program . Smithsonian Institution.
  2. Chisholm, Alec Hugh (1958). The Australian Encyclopaedia. Michigan State University Press. p. 225.
  3. Downs 1999, p. 24.
  4. "George Anthony Morgan TAYLOR, GC". George Cross Database Recipient. Archived from the original on 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2007-01-16.

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In early January 1951, a series of minor explosions and earthquakes rocked Mount Lamington, a volcano in Oro Province, Territory of Papua and New Guinea. Prior to the eruption, Mount Lamington was not recognized as a volcano due to the absence of historically-recorded eruptions and dense vegetation cover. From January 15, volcanic activity intensified, and tall eruption plumes were generated. The largest eruption occurred on the morning of January 21 when a thick black plume of ash rose 15,000 metres (50,000 ft) into the atmosphere. The eruption collapsed a lava dome and produced a lethal pyroclastic flow that killed 2,942 people. In the years after the eruption, new lava domes formed and collapsed in succession. Activity persisted until July 1956. The eruption is the deadliest natural disaster in Australian history, as the region was under the rule of the Government of Australia.

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