"The eruption ended during the second week of October. After major lava extrusion in September, lava flows were emitted at low rates through a tube at 1800 m altitude [but 1900 in 10:9]. The total volume of lava for the September episode is estimated to be 17-20 x 10⁶ m³. Degassing was very important, and eruptive cones were covered with sulfur deposits.

"Since the beginning of the month, a major deflation was detected on the E coast. This may correspond to the end of the inflation that began on 10 July (10:07). In mid-October, at the end of the eruption, this deflation was recorded both at the summit station and in the caldera. After some sporadic tremors, seismic activity associated with this eruption ended on 16 October."

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: H. Delorme and J. Delarue, OVPDLF, Réunion; P. Bachelery, Univ. de la Réunion.