Those who don’t know about Barren Island volcano, this might sound a bit surprising. The Barren Island volcano is India’s only live volcano. And the volcano has started spewing smoke and lava again. The Barren Island volcano in Andaman and Nicobar Islands has seen making sudden activities from past few days after lying dormant for 150 years. A team from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) spotted the volcano erupting on January 23.
Barren Island volcano erupted in 1991 and has been showing sporadic activity since then.
NIO team head Abhay Mudholkar 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,” he added.
“We are checking the composition of the lava and powdering the black sand to figure out the components,” Mudholkar said.
To study the volcano, water and the sediments in the vicinity as well as coal-like black pyroclastic material representing proximal volcanic ejecta have been sampled by the researchers from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and NIO.
Justifying its name ‘Barren Island’ it is a barren area uninhabited by humans. Amidst of the volcanic erruptions Island are reputed to be among the world’s top scuba diving destinations.
