Eruption History
There have been 33 recorded eruptions at Taal since 1572. The first eruption of which there is any record occurred in 1572, the year the Agustinian friars founded the town of Taal on the shores of the lake (on what is now San Nicolas, Batangas). In 1591, another mild eruption took place featured by great masses of smoke issuing forth from the crater. From 1605 to 1611, the volcano displayed such great activity that Father Torna de Abreu had a huge cross of anubing wood erected on the brink of the crater.
Between 1707 and 1731, the center of activity shifted from the Main Crater to other parts of Volcano Island. The eruptions of 1707 and 1715 occurred in Binitiang Malaki crater (the cinder cone visible from Tagaytay). Minor eruptions also emanated from the Binintiang Munti crater on the westernmost tip of the island in 1709 and 1729. A more violent activity happened on September 24, 1716, when the whole southeastern portion of the crater (Calauit), opposite Mount Macolod, was blown out. The 1731 eruption off Pira-Piraso or eastern tip of the island created an island. No studies had been done to determine whether Napayon or Bubuin Island was formed in the eruption, or just a pumice raft.
Activity returned to the Main Crater in 1749, and it was remembered for being particularly violent (VEI = 4). Then came the great 200-day eruption of 1754, the greatest eruption of Taal which is described below.
Taal remained quiet for 54 years except for a minor eruption in 1790, not until March 1808 did another big eruption occur. While this outbreak was not as violent as the one in 1754, the immediate vicinity were covered with ashes to a depth of 84 centimetres (33 in). It brought great changes in the interior of the crater, according to chroniclers of that time. Before, the bottom looked very deep and seemed unfathomable, but at the bottom, a liquid mass was seen in continual ebullition. After the eruption, the crater had widened and the pond within it had been reduced to one-third and the rest of the crater floor was higher and dry enough to walk over it. The height of the crater walls has diminished and near the center of the new crater floor, a little hill that continually emitted smoke. On its sides were several wells, one of which was especially remarkable for its size.
On July 19, 1874, an eruption of gases and ashes killed all the live stock on the island. From November 12 to 15, 1878, ashes ejected by the volcano covered the entire island. Another eruption took place in 1904 as a result of which a new outlet was formed in the southeastern wall of the principal crater. The last eruption from the Main Crater was in 1911 which obliterated the crater floor creating the present lake. In 1965, a huge explosion sliced off a huge part of the island, moving activity to a new eruption center, Mount Tabaro. Eruptions have also been recorded in 1634, 1635, 1641, 1645, 1790, 1825, 1842, 1873, 1885, 1903, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976 and 1977. Some of the major eruptions are described below:
Read more about this topic: Taal Volcano
Famous quotes containing the words eruption and/or history:
“Movies are one of the bad habits that corrupted our century. Of their many sins, I offer as the worst their effect on the intellectual side of the nation. It is chiefly from that viewpoint I write of them—as an eruption of trash that has lamed the American mind and retarded Americans from becoming a cultured people.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)
“Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)