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Monserrat Volcano Case Study
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- 1Where and what is Monserrat?Small island in the Caribbean measuring 16km long and 11km wide.
- 2What does the Soufriere Hills contain?The Soufriere Hills contains volcanic areas called Chances Peak (Southern part of island).
There is a volcanic area located in the south of the island on Soufriere Hills called Chances Peak. Before 1995 it had been dormant for over 300 years. In 1995 the volcano began to give off warning signs of an eruption (small earthquakes and eruptions of dust and ash). Once Chances Peak had woken up it then remained active for five years. The most intense eruptions occurred in 1997. - 3When did the volcano start to erupt?Volcano had been dormant for over 300 years but 18th July 1995 it started to erupt, starting with warning signs of small earthquakes.
- 4When did the eruptions start and last till?1995-1997 Montserrat devastated by pyroclastic flows.
- 5What was the cause of the eruption (margin and plates)?Lies on destructive plate boundary. As the North and South American and Caribbean plate merged the oceanic plate (N and S) was forced down or sub-ducted under the continental plate (Caribbean).
- 6What happens as the plates are forced down?As it is forced down pressure increases which triggers earthquakes and at the same time heat produced by friction melts the descending crust to form molten magma.
- 7What happens as the magma tries to rise?The hot magma tries to rise to the surface and when it succeeds will form a volcano such as the one in Montserrat.
- 8Impacts: . Captial . Industries. Plymouth contained all the main services – hospitals, banks, schools, government and many private businesses. (economic)
. Collapse of the tourist industry and rice processing industries (economic) - 9Impacts: . Jobs . Farming . Health issues. Unemployment has risen from 7% to 50%. (econ)
. Agriculture is at a standstill. (econ and social)
. Respiratory problems caused by ash. (social) - 10Impacts: . Environment . Congestion . Land . Accomodation . Skills. Ash polluted the surroundings, creating environmental damage (environmental)
. Traffic congestion
.Shortage of available building land (economic)
. 70% rise in rent for accommodation (economic)
. Skills shortage as people left. (economic and social) - 11Short-term responses: . Evacuation . Abandonment. Large-scale evacuation by the British Navy.
. Abandonment of the capital city, Plymouth. - 12Short-term responses: . Compensation . Unemployment. Compensation and redevelopment money donated by the UK government ($88million) to help with new houses on the island, which is British overseas territory.
. Unemployment rose due to the collapse of the tourist industry. - 13Long-term responses: . Exclusion zoneAn exclusion zone was set up in the volcanic region. This extends from the south coast of the island and was imposed because of the size of the existing volcanic dome and the resulting potential for pyroclastic activity.
- 14Long-term responses: . Observatory . Roads . Services. A volcanic observatory was built to monitor the volcano. It has been relatively quiet since 2010
. New roads and a new airport were built.
. Services in the north of the island were expanded. - 15Long-term responses: . Tourism . Migration. The presence of the volcano resulted in a growth in adventure tourism.
. Out-migration - in 1998 the people of Montserrat were granted full residency rights in the United Kingdom, allowing them to migrate if they chose. British citizenship was granted in 2002. People have returned to the island more recently. - 16What happened as soon as the volcano was deemed dangerous?Once the volcano was deemed dangerous to life evacuations plans and Hazard maps were put into place. The maps contained areas of increasing risk including the highest risk area- the exclusion zone. As the eruption progressed the zones were modified until the southern two thirds of the island was declared an exclusion zone.
- 17Management: . Seismograph . Deformation and tilt. An extensive seismograph network was established around the volcano to measure earthquake strength and depth.
. Earth deformation meters and tiltmeters were also put in place to show any signs of the ground swelling or deflating as magma rose within the volcano. - 18Management: . Satellite . Gas emissions. A satellite location GPS (global positioning system) was also used to check ground movements.
. An instrument called COSPEC was used to measure gas emissions from the volcano, particularly sulphur dioxide which is a good indicator of magma type and movement. - 19Management: . Rain . Flying. The pH of rainwater was monitored as it gives an indication of the magmatic gas content.
. Geologists regularly flew into the most dangerous areas to sample new flow deposits, measure cracks caused by the volcano swelling and check the growth of the dome. - 20Econ impacts: . Total loss . Villages and homes . Tourism . Services. £1billion
. 20 villages and 2/3 of homes destroyed
. Tourism decrease, did return
. Many services destroyed - 21Social impacts: . Died . Homes . Fires . Population. 19 dead
. 100s lost their homes
. Fires destroyed many buildings e.g. local government office, police HQ, petrol stations
. Population declined- 8000/12,000 left, 4000 t0 UK - 22Environ impacts: . Vegetation . Soil. Vegetation destroyed
. Increased soil fertility - 23Responses: . Temporary infrastructure . Aid . Local emergency services. Temp infrastructure built e.g. roads, electricity
. UK £17 million emergency aid, £41 million long-term e.g. new docks, airport, houses
. Local emergency services provided support units to search for an rescue survivors
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- A2 (Tectonics) A2 Geography Fichas sobre Monserrat Volcano Case Study , creado por Alice Kimpton el 09/12/2016.
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- Alice Kimpton
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