"The moderate eruptive activity . . . continued unabated in December. Both craters erupted spasmodically throughout the month, generating moderate volumes of ash. The activity may have been stronger at Crater 3 judging by the reported loud explosions there and ejections of incandescent lava-fragments that were seen on a few nights at mid-month. By contrast, Crater 2 explosions were muffled and only glow above the crater was seen at night. Seismicity was dominated by explosion events at rates of up to ~40/day."

Geological Summary. Langila, one of the most active volcanoes of New Britain, consists of a group of four small overlapping composite basaltic-andesitic cones on the lower E flank of the extinct Talawe volcano in the Cape Gloucester area of NW New Britain. A rectangular, 2.5-km-long crater is breached widely to the SE; Langila was constructed NE of the breached crater of Talawe. An extensive lava field reaches the coast on the N and NE sides of Langila. Frequent mild-to-moderate explosive eruptions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have been recorded since the 19th century from three active craters at the summit. The youngest and smallest crater (no. 3 crater) was formed in 1960 and has a diameter of 150 m.

Information Contacts: C. McKee and R. Stewart, RVO.