Seismicity at Talang had generally declined since February 2009. However on 16 August 2009 there was a M 6.9 earthquake centered W of Sumatra in the southern part of Siberut Island. That event caused tremors recorded at Talang. Increased seismicity through the next day led to CVGHM to raise the Alert Level for Talang from 2 to 3 (on a scale of 1-4). Monitoring was also stepped up, and an emergency response team was assigned to conduct an onsite evaluation. Foggy conditions prevented visual observations.

Between the August activity and February 2010, Talang was comparatively quiet; however in early February another episode of increased seismicity included harmonic tremor, shallow volcanic earthquakes, and deep volcanic earthquakes. By 17 February the elevated seismicity had subsided. MODVOLC satellite surveillance has shown no indications of any thermal activity.

Geological Summary. Talang, which forms a twin volcano with the extinct Pasar Arbaa volcano, lies ESE of the major city of Padang and rises NW of Dibawah Lake. Talang has two crater lakes on its flanks; the largest of these is 1 x 2 km wide Danau Talang. The summit exhibits fumarolic activity, but which lacks a crater. Historical eruptions have mostly involved small-to-moderate explosive activity first documented in the 19th century that originated from a series of small craters in a valley on the upper NE flank.

Information Contacts: Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM), Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (URL: http://vsi.esdm.go.id/).