OVPF reported that the longest-travelling lava flow that began to effuse on 10 February from fissures on the E flank of Piton de la Fournaise’s Dolomieu Crater was no longer advancing by 13 February. The end of the longest active flow was located below Marco Crater around 1,900 m elevation, based on field an aerial observations. A cone was building over three vents and had grown to 30 m high; lava fountains from the three vents rose 10-15 m above the rim of the cone. Tremor levels rapidly decreased around 1400 on 15 February, though inclement weather conditions prevented visual confirmation of changes to the surficial activity. Observers noted no activity while aboard an overflight during 0730-0800 on 16 February, though tremor continued to be recorded. By 1412 tremor ceased, signifying the end of lava effusion.

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)