Eruption at Le Piton de la Fournaise volcano on 3 February 1981

Abstract

Piton de la Fournaise in the island of La Réunion, Indian Ocean, is a young (0.35-Myr old) basaltic shield volcano built on the flank of the extinct Piton des Neiges volcano. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world (magma output rate of 0.32 m³ s⁻¹)^1,2 and has been under continuous surveillance by the Volcanological Observatory of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris since August 1980. The first detailed observations on the volcano reveal a remarkably low level of background seismicity. The 3 February 1981 eruption was preceded by a deep event of volcanic origin at depths of 10–15 km on 2 January; 20 days of quiescence followed this event, until the onset of shallow seismicity close to the eruptive centres on 22 January. The eruption began after 13 days of sustained shallow seismicity and occurred in three phases over 92 days and produced about 10 × 10⁶ m³ of lava.