Piton de la Fournaise
| Piton de la Fournaise | |
|---|---|
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A shield volcano
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,632 m (8,635 ft) |
| Coordinates | 21°14′33″S 55°42′32″E / 21.24250°S 55.70889°ECoordinates: 21°14′33″S 55°42′32″E / 21.24250°S 55.70889°E |
| Naming | |
| Translation | Peak of the Furnace (French) |
| Geography | |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Shield volcano |
| Last eruption | January 2017 (ongoing) |
Piton de la Fournaise (French): "Peak of the Furnace" is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island (a French department) in the Indian Ocean. It is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, along with Kīlauea in the Hawaiian Islands (Pacific Ocean), Stromboli, Etna (Italy) and Mount Erebus in Antarctica. A previous eruption began in August 2006 and ended in January 2007. The volcano erupted again in February 2007, on 21 September 2008, on 9 December 2010, which lasted for two days. and on 1 August 2015. The most recent eruption began on 31 January 2017. The volcano is located within Réunion National Park, a World Heritage site.
Piton de la Fournaise is often known locally as le Volcan (The Volcano); it is a major tourist attraction on Réunion island.
The top part of the volcano is occupied by the Enclos Fouqué, a caldera 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) wide. High cliffs known as remparts form the caldera's rim. The caldera is breached to the southeast into the sea. It is unstable and is in the initial stages of failure. It will eventually collapse into the Indian Ocean. Whether it will generate a so-called "megatsunami" is controversial. There is evidence on the submerged flanks and abyssal plain of earlier failures. The lower slopes are known as the Grand Brûlé ("Great Burnt"). Most volcanic eruptions are confined to the caldera.
Inside the caldera is a 400 meter high lava shield known as Dolomieu. Atop the lava shield are Bory Crater (Cratère Bory) and Dolomieu Crater (Cratère Dolomieu), named for French geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, which is by far the wider of the two.
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