India's only volcano has begun spewing lava and smoke after lying dormant for 150 years. The Barren Island volcano erupted in 1991 and has been projecting sporadic activity since then, said scientists of the National Institute of Oceanography.
Abhay Mudholkar, who is heading an NIO team and collecting samples in the Andaman basin, said, "The volcano is erupting in small episodes of five to 10 minutes. During the day, only ash clouds were observed. But after sundown, red lava foundations were spewing from the crater into the atmosphere and hot lava streamed down the slopes." Researchers from the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research and NIO have sampled sediments and water from the vicinity and recovered black pyroclastic material representing proximal volcanic ejecta.
"We were checking the composition of the lava and powdering the black sand to figure out the components," Mudholkar said. Scientists have also been checking the basin and have identified several small submerged volcanoes in a linear chain called a volcanic arc. B Nagender Nath and his team also witnessed a continuation of spurts of blasts and smoke. "These volcanoes are formed due to the rising magma formed deep in the mantle due to the melting of the subducted Indian Ocean crust. A few of these submarine volcanoes have been dredged for samples and a pumice type of light volcanic rock has been recovered," he said.
The Andaman basin is an active back-arc spreading basin known for strong seismicity, submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal activity.
