MVO reported that during 5-12 November activity from the Soufrière Hills lava dome was at a low level. Photographs from 11 November showed areas of nighttime incandescence from the lava dome, indicating that although extrusion stopped nine months earlier, the lava dome remained hot. Small pyroclastic flows occurred in the Tar River valley to the E on 6 November and from the N side of the dome on 9 November. Light ashfall associated with the 9 November event occurred in inhabited areas of N Montserrat. Helicopter observations revealed that the overhanging part of the dome on the W side, immediately E of Chances Peak, was more pronounced by further undercutting of rockfalls and pyroclastic flows. The Hazard Level remained at 3.

Geological Summary. The complex, dominantly andesitic Soufrière Hills volcano occupies the southern half of the island of Montserrat. The summit area consists primarily of a series of lava domes emplaced along an ESE-trending zone. The volcano is flanked by Pleistocene complexes to the north and south. English's Crater, a 1-km-wide crater breached widely to the east by edifice collapse, was formed about 2000 years ago as a result of the youngest of several collapse events producing submarine debris-avalanche deposits. Block-and-ash flow and surge deposits associated with dome growth predominate in flank deposits, including those from an eruption that likely preceded the 1632 CE settlement of the island, allowing cultivation on recently devegetated land to near the summit. Non-eruptive seismic swarms occurred at 30-year intervals in the 20th century, but no historical eruptions were recorded until 1995. Long-term small-to-moderate ash eruptions beginning in that year were later accompanied by lava-dome growth and pyroclastic flows that forced evacuation of the southern half of the island and ultimately destroyed the capital city of Plymouth, causing major social and economic disruption.

Source: Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO)