Sunday, March 29, 2009

Anatahan

The most active volcano on the Mariana Islands is Anatahan. It has the largest known caldera on the islands, with a crater in the middle of the caldera, formed during its first eruption on May 10, 2003. Anatahan created earthquakes and typhoons leading up to this eruption. It blew clouds of ash to about 6 kilometers. Small amounts of ash had fallen onto the other islands. Anatahan has explosive eruptions, and rhyolitic lava. Its frequent eruptions caused the island to be evacuated and nobody lives there anymore.
Anatahan is capable of producing very large eruptions, with pyroclastic flows and higher ash clouds causing more ash to fall on the surrounding islands. Eruptions from Anatahan cause little damage seeing as it is not populated.

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