Mount Pinatubo and Mount Bulusan

MOUNT PINATUBO AND MOUNT BULUSAN

by Anton Antonio

June 16, 2015

The eruption of Mount Bulusan today suddenly brought back memories of Mount Pinatubo.  Why?... because both volcanoes erupted at almost exactly the same day in June 1991 and 2015.

“Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Cabusilan Mountains on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga.  Before the volcanic activities of 1991, its eruptive history was unknown to most people.  It was heavily eroded, inconspicuous and obscured from view.  It was covered with dense forest which supported a population of several thousand indigenous people, the Aetas, who fled to the mountains during the Spanish conquest of the Philippines.  The volcano’s Plinian/Ultra-Pinian eruption on June 15, 1991 produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20^th century after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in the Alaska Peninsula.  Complicating the eruption was the arrival of Typhoon Yunya (Diding), bringing a lethal mix of ash and rain to areas surrounding the volcano.  Successful prediction at the onset of the climactic eruption led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from the surrounding areas, saving lives, but the surrounding areas were severely damaged by pyroclastic flows, ash deposits, and subsequently, by the lahars caused by rainwaters re-mobilizing earlier volcanic deposits causing extensive destruction to infrastructure and changing the river systems months to years after the eruption.”  (Wikipedia)

Mount Pinatubo is the second-largest eruption of the 20^th century, and by far the largest eruption to affect a densely populated area, occurred on June 15, 1991.  Today, June 16, 2015, exactly (or almost exactly) 24 years after Mount Pinatubo erupted, Mount Bulusan erupted too.

“Mount Bulusan, or Bulusan Volcano, is the southernmost volcano on Luzon Islands in the Republic of the Philippines.  It is situated in the province of Sorsogon in the Bicol region, 70 kilometers southeast of Mayon Volcano and approximately 250 kilometers sountheast of the Philippine capital of Manila.  It is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines. Bulusan is classified by volcanologists as a stratovolcano (or a composite cone) and covers the northeast rim of Irosin caldera that was formed about 40,000 years ago.  It has a peak elevation of 1,565 meters above sea level with a base diameter of 15 kilometers.” (Wikipedia)

When the dates of eruption of these volcanoes are compared, one can only marvel at the timing of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and Mount Bulusan.

Just my little thoughts…

(Please visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders on Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/)

REFERENCES:

Wikipedia. “Mount Pinatubo”. Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo

Wikipedia. “Mount Bulusan”. Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bulusan