Loading…
Kanlaon Volcano in the Philippines produced ash emissions on 15 August 2026 that sent greyish plumes about 200 metres above the summit crater before drifting north.
PHIVOLCS, the country's volcanology agency, kept the volcano at Alert Level 2, denoting moderate unrest with further ash emissions or short-lived explosions possible.
Kanlaon is an active stratovolcano on Negros Island, the highest peak in the Visayas region at about 2,465 metres, and lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
It has erupted more than 30 times since 1819, most of them phreatic (steam-driven) events producing small to moderate amounts of ash.
Entry into the four-kilometre-radius permanent danger zone around the summit remains prohibited.
An eruption sends an ash plume about 3,000 metres into the air; PHIVOLCS raises the alert to Level 3.
A moderately explosive eruption occurs; PHIVOLCS keeps the volcano at Alert Level 2.
An ash emission at 08:16 produces a greyish plume about 200 metres high, drifting east-northeast.
Two ash emissions in the early morning generate greyish plumes about 200 metres above the crater, drifting north; Alert Level 2 prevails.
A phreatic eruption is driven by steam, not by rising magma. Groundwater or crater-lake water in contact with hot rock flashes to steam, and the pressure blasts out fragments of the existing rock along with ash and gas. Because no new molten material reaches the surface, the ejecta are old rock rather than fresh lava, and the events are usually short-lived with ash falling close to the volcano. That is precisely the pattern at Kanlaon: most of its historical activity has been phreatic, producing small to moderate ash falls in the surrounding area rather than large lava flows. The distinction matters for hazard management - phreatic bursts can happen with little warning even when magma is not moving, which is why a permanent danger zone is maintained around the summit.
Simple Analogy: Water spilled on a very hot pan does not add anything to the pan; it simply erupts into steam and throws the pan's contents about.
GS Paper I > Physical Geography > Volcanism and Plate Tectonics; Places in News
General Awareness > World Geography > Volcanoes and Places in News
General Awareness > World Geography
A steep-sided, conical volcano built of alternating layers of lava flows and fragmental volcanic material; typical of subduction-zone settings.
A steam-driven eruption caused when water is heated by hot rock or magma at depth; it ejects fragments of pre-existing rock and ash, but no fresh magma.
A large depression at a volcano's summit formed by collapse after a major eruption, often occupied by a crater lake - as at Kanlaon's northern summit.
A fast-moving flow of volcanic debris mixed with water, common on tropical volcanoes after ash falls are mobilised by rain.
An area around an active volcano, four kilometres in radius at Kanlaon, from which habitation and entry are permanently barred on hazard grounds.