The onset of the 14 December eruption, at 1303, followed 40 minutes of 1-Hz tremor. Data from the tilt network had allowed geologists to reach the field 2 hours earlier and provided an excellent forecast of vent location. Geologists heard (and saw through clouds) the opening of a 400-m fissure N of Faujas Crater that ejected 20-50-m fountains of aphyric basalt and built a new cone. A second fissure opened to the SW, but lava production was low. During the following days, a significant number of discrete seismic events accompanied vigorous tremor. Most seismic events were limited to the summit zone, but some were recorded in the N part of the caldera. Eruptive activity stopped suddenly on 29 December at 0150. Since then, seismic activity has progressively resumed.

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, P. Nerbusson, D. Vandamme, J. Delmond, and P. Taochi, OVPDLF; P. Bachelery, Univ de la Réunion; J. Dubois, J-L. Cheminée, A. Hirn, J. LePine; P. Blum, and J. Zlotnicki, IPGP.