OVPF reported that the eruption at Piton de la Fournaise continued during 28 April-4 May, though inclement weather obscured visual observations during most of the week. Both craters were active, producing lava flows that mainly traveled though lava tubes. Lava emerged from the end of the flow field, advancing E and setting fire to local vegetation. Minor inflation of the summit area was recorded. Lava fountaining was weak at the smaller vent to the SE during 3-4 May and a small lava pond occupied the crater of the larger cone, just NW at the higher elevation. On 4 May weak fountaining at the smaller cone occasionally ejected material just above the crater rim and the pond was active in the larger crater. The lava flow advanced another 180 m, reaching 1,500 m elevation. According to a news article two students in their 20s were found dead in the caldera on 22 April, near the active cones. The cause of death was not immediately known. The Alert Level remained at 2-2.

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.

Sources: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF), Agence France-Presse (AFP)