BGVN 28:09 reported a seismic crisis and new SSW-flank fissure at Piton de la Fournaise on 30 September 2003. The Volcanological Observatory monitoring Piton de la Fournaise and the local press reported a further seismic crisis that developed on 7 December 2003 at 1429 beneath the summit. Following around an hour of seismicity, an eruption began on 7 December at 1535 in the Dolomieu crater, with lava fountaining to ten's of meters from two fractures on the SE crater floor. Two new fractures were also observed on the S crater rim that did not produce lava. The eruption decreased rapidly over the night of 7-8 December. By 8 December at about 1400 small incandescent lava flows and rock falls on the S crater wall were observed. By the night of 8 December the eruption ceased but strong degassing and fluctuating seismicity continued. New lava covered ~ 40% of the Dolomieu crater floor.

The eruption was preceded by a seismic swarm on 6 November that was followed by ~ 30 cm of steady uplift and 10-20 earthquakes recorded per day. As of 16 December, significant seismic activity continued, and hikers were permitted only limited access. Press reports indicated three quite active cones within the S rampart of the Dolomieu crater, surrounded by ejecta found more than 200 m N, noisy degassing, lava covering the bottom of the crater up to 5 m thick, and zigzag cracks crossing the crater's S exterior.

A further seismic event with significant surface deformation occurred over 7-9 January 2004.

[On 9 January eruption tremor started near Nez Coupé de Sainte Rose. A 300-m-long fissure, cutting the 1931 crater, produced a small ~2-km-long lava flow. The eruption stopped on 10 January around 1200.]

Geological Summary. Piton de la Fournaise is a massive basaltic shield volcano on the French island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. Much of its more than 530,000-year history overlapped with eruptions of the deeply dissected Piton des Neiges shield volcano to the NW. Three scarps formed at about 250,000, 65,000, and less than 5,000 years ago by progressive eastward slumping, leaving caldera-sized embayments open to the E and SE. Numerous pyroclastic cones are present on the floor of the scarps and their outer flanks. Most recorded eruptions have originated from the summit and flanks of Dolomieu, a 400-m-high lava shield that has grown within the youngest scarp, which is about 9 km wide and about 13 km from the western wall to the ocean on the E side. More than 150 eruptions, most of which have produced fluid basaltic lava flows, have occurred since the 17th century. Only six eruptions, in 1708, 1774, 1776, 1800, 1977, and 1986, have originated from fissures outside the scarps.

Information Contacts: Thomas Staudacher, Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 97418 La Plaine des Cafres, La Réunion, France (URL: http://www.ipgp.fr/fr/ovpf/observatoire-volcanologique-piton-de-fournaise).