Talang
Talang, Sumatra, Indonesia
Location: 1.0S, 100.7E
Elevation: 2,896 m
Talang is a stratovolcano with 8 confirmed eruptions between 1833 and 1968. The volcano may have had a phreatic eruption in 1986 but the activity has not been confirmed. Most of the eruptions are moderate in size (VEI=2) and explosive. Eruptions in 1833, 1843, 1845, and 1876 were from flank vents. An eruption in 1967 and two different eruptions in 1968 were from radial fissures. The distance from the city of Padang to Talang is about 35 km. Image courtesy of the Landsat Pathfinder Project.
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Source of Information:
Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.
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Talang, which forms a twin volcano with the extinct Pasar Arbaa volcano, has two crater lakes on its flanks. The largest of these is 1 x 2 km wide Danau Talang. No historical eruptions have occurred from the summit of the volcano, which lacks a crater. All historical eruptions from Gunung Talang volcano have involved small-to-moderate 19th-century explosive activity originating from a series of small craters in a valley on the upper NE flank.
posted by birdieee at Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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Mount Talang in Solok, W. Sumatra spews ash, sparking new panic
PADANG (Antara): Mount Talang in Solok regency, West Sumatra spewed ash on Tuesday, sparking panic among a population that has yet to recover from a strong recent earthquake.
"The mountain coughed (up ash) in the early morning. We are still monitoring it," Rio, an officer with the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) in Padang Panjang said.
Rio said that Mount Talang had erupted at 3:42, spewing volcanic ash about one kilometer around the peak.
The 2,599 meter Mount Talang is just some 40 kilometers east of the coastal capital of West Sumatra province, Padang.
He said his office had warned people to avoid the ash fall-out zone around the peak but had otherwise not demanded theevacuation of the rest of the people who live on the mountain's slopes.
The eruption sparked panic among the local population on the fertile slopes of the volcano, prompting many to flee.
Padang was hit by a strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale on Sunday, causing minimal damage but prompting panic that saw thousands of residents flee to higher ground fearing tidal waves.
The eruption followed a series of major natural disasters to strike the western coast of Sumatra island.
A massive 9.3-magnitude earthquake hit Aceh and parts of North Sumatra on December 26, creating deadly tidal waves that leveled coastal areas around the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 248,000 people were originally declared dead or missing.
On March 28, a strong earthquake shook the islands of Nias and Simeulue off the western coast of Sumatra, killing more than 600 people.
Indonesia sits on a series of geological lines that remain constantly on the move and that are lined with over 130 active volcanoes. (*)
A volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has spewed ash, sparking panic among the local population.
A meteorology and geophysics official in the west Sumatran town of Padang Panjang says the nearby Mount Talang had erupted, coughing volcanic ash about one kilometre around the peak.
The 2,600 metre volcano is 40 kilometres east of the coastal capital of West Sumatra province, Padang.
Vulcanologist Gede Suwantika has described Talang's activity as "serious" saying there is a risk of further eruption, which could release molten magma and clouds of super-heated gas that burn everything in their path.
Four villages on the slopes of the 2,599 metre volcano have been evacuated with tens of thousands of scared residents seeking refuge several kilometres from the peak.
The volcano's activity comes just two days after the city of Padang was gripped with fear following a powerful 6.7 magnitude quake that caused only minor damage but revived
memories of last year's deadly indian ocean tsunami
W O R L D N E W S S T O R Y
Eruption and earthquakes spark fear on Sumatra
13 April 2005
PADANG: A volcano on Indonesia's Sumatra island erupted yesterday sending hot ash high into the air and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of villagers, officials said.
The eruption was accompanied by a string of moderate earthquakes that rattled towns in Sumatra, which is still recovering from a massive Dec. 26 quake and tsunami that killed nearly 130,000 people on its northern end.
Officials said hot ash and thick smoke spewed out of Mt Talang, which lies near the west coast city of Padang, 938 km northwest of Jakarta, near the epicentre of four moderate quakes yesterday.
An official in the nearby town of Solok said hundreds of villagers living on the slopes of the 2690 metre volcano had been evacuated so far.
"Residents within the radius of 3-4 km have been evacuated to a sports stadium in a neighbouring town," Elvi Sahlan, Solok deputy mayor, told Reuters by telephone.
The volcanic activity and quakes sparked panic among residents of Padang, a city of nearly one million people, which was hit last Sunday by a quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale.
Officials said of the quakes recorded yesterday the biggest measured 5.8 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre around 150 km southwest of Padang.
"The four quakes we recorded overnight more or less had their epicentres in the same area in the ocean," Rasidi, an official at the geophysics and meteorology office in Jakarta, told Reuters.
Some Padang residents fled to higher ground, fearing a tsunami, witnesses said.
Indonesia has been hit by a series of aftershocks since a massive magnitude 9 quake on Dec. 26 triggered a tsunami across the Indian ocean.
A quake off Sumatra on March 28 is estimated to have killed up to 2000, many on Nias island off Sumatra's west coast.
Indonesia is a vast archipelago of some 17,000 islands that lies along the geologically active "Pacific Ring of Fire" and has more than 100 active volcanoes.
Thousands flee in panic as Indonesian volcano spews into life
MOUNT TALANG, Indonesia (AFP) Apr 12, 2005
A volcano spewed into life Tuesday on Indonesia's disaster-blighted Sumatra island, spreading new panic after the recent tsunami and earthquakes and driving thousands from their homes.
Mount Talang, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Sumatra's coastal Padang city began pumping out volcanic ash shortly before dawn, prompting scientists to urge people to move away from the fall-out zone.
More than 20,000 people have been evacuated from the volcano's slope, the Antara news agency quoted local official Bustamar saying. It said the volcano's status had been raised to "beware", one rung below full-blown eruption.
Vulcanologist Gede Suwantika described Talang's activity as "serious" saying there was a risk of molten magma and clouds of super-heated gas that burn everything in their path.
"This is what I worry, that this activity will be followed by a larger eruption that is magmatic in nature," he said.
"Heat clouds could also descend, and this is what is risky as they can reach several kilometres" he said.
An AFP photographer at the 2,599 metre (8,680 foot) volcano said a narrow road leading to the mountain was clogged by people deserting the area, which was shrouded in thick fog.
The volcano issued another outburst at 11:30 am and another at 6:45 in the evening, accompanied by a loud bang, according to a police spokesman in Solok, 40 kilometres northeast of the volcano. He said the situation was calm.
Elfi Sahlan Ben, an official in Solok, told the Detikcom news website that ash was being carried by winds further down the slopes while strong gaseous odours were permeating the air around the mountain.
The volcano's activity comes just two days after the city of Padang was gripped with fear following a powerful 6.7 magnitude quake that caused only minor damage but revived memories of last year's deadly Indian Ocean tsunami.
On Monday the city's offices and schools were deserted, with many people having left the town to seek refuge on higher ground, their unease fuelled by rumours and scientific reports of another impending disaster.
A massive earthquake struck off the southwest coast of Sumatra on March 28, killing more than 600 people on the offshore islands of Nias and Simeulue -- most of the victims crushed by collapsing concrete structures.
On December 26 last year, a 9.3-magnitude shockwave from the same geological faultline unleashed tsunamis that destroyed vast tracts of coast in Sumatra's westernmost Aceh region and left more then 160,000 dead or missing.
The Indonesian archipelago sits atop a series of faultlines where three continental plates collide with immense pressure, causing almost daily earthquakes and frequent eruptions from more than 130 active volcanoes.
Though inured to seismic activity, thousands of Indonesians, particularly on Nias and Simeulue, have been spooked by the recent quakes and rumours of another imminent disaster and have sought refuge on higher ground.
Last month a prominent seismologist said he could not rule out the risk of a third big quake off Sumatra, although the exact timing of the event could not be predicted.
According to Fauzan, a geophysicist with the meteorology and geophysics agency, Talang's eruption is directly linked to the recent seismic activity off Sumatra's shores.
"Tectonically speaking, it is true that there are links between tectonic activities in the Indian Ocean and volcanic activities in Sumatra," he told
He said the massive December quake had activated Leuser Mountain, a volcano in Aceh province along the same range of peaks as Talang, while the Nias quake had sparked activity in lake Toba, an ancient crater in Sumatra.
Talang has had at least four major eruptions, all in the 19th century, and three smaller eruptions in 1981, 2001 and 2003.
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