OVPF reported that a seismic crisis at Piton de la Fournaise began at 1340 on 17 May and was accompanied by rapid deformation that suggested rising magma; volcanic tremor was recorded at 2010. The seismic and deformation activity was located in the NE part of l’Enclos Fouqué caldera. During an overflight at 1100 on 18 May scientists observed no surface activity at the base of the Nez Coupé de Sainte Rose rampart (on the N side of the volcano) nor outside of l'Enclos Fouqué caldera, and suggested that fractures opened but did not emit lava.

Seismicity increased at 0400 on 18 May. The number of shallow (<2 km depth) and deep (>2 km depth) volcano-tectonic earthquakes progressively decreased over the next three days: 40 shallow and 22 deep on 18 May, 18 shallow and 22 deep on 19 May, 7 shallow and 9 deep on 20 May, 8 shallow and 1 deep on 21 May. Carbon dioxide concentrations in soils measured at remote stations were high. During a field visit on 22 May scientists mapped the deformation associated with the 17 May event and measured displacements that did not exceed 35 cm. On 23 May OVPF reported that the 17-18 May activity resulted in two new zones of fumaroles that followed the trends seen in seismic and deformation data.

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.

Source: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF)