Minor phreatomagmatic eruption observed in Taal Volcano

By Ma. Cristina Arayata, Philippine News Agency

FILE: UNREST. Footage of the phreatomagmatic eruption reported of the Taal Volcano at 5:58 a.m. on Tuesday (Dec. 3, 2024). (FILE PHOTO Screengrab via Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council Talisay Batangas/Facebook)

MANILA – Minor phreatomagmatic eruptive events occurred at the Taal Main Crater between 3:01 p.m. and 3:13 p.m. on Thursday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief, Ma. Antonia Bornas, said such kind of volcanic activity or eruption of Taal Volcano, being at Alert Level 1, has been usual and recurring since 2021.

Phreatic eruption is a sudden, usually short-lived eruption, triggered by the contact of groundwater with hot rocks underneath the volcano.

Phreatomagmatic eruptions are caused by the interaction of magma and water.

The three eruptive events lasted four to six minutes based on visual, seismic, and infrasound recordings.

These events were preceded by a strong tremor and produced a plume that reached 2,400 meters high and drifted southeast.

This direction, Bornas said, is opposite the direction of the ongoing retrieval operations of the Philippine Coast Guard in connection with the issue of missing “sabungeros”.

“The high-risk area for phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions is the Taal Volcano Island or TVI,” she said.

Entry into the TVI, which is Taal’s permanent danger zone, is prohibited, she reminded the public.

The volcano is still under Alert Level 1, Phivolcs said.