Fogo Volcano | John Seach

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Cape Verde Islands

14.95 N, 24.35 W
summit elevation 2829 m
stratovolcano

Fogo Island is located in the Cape Verde archipelago, 745 km off the west African coast from Senegal. Fogo volcano sits on the African tectonic plate, and is formed from hotspot magmatism.

Fogo, and the Cape Verde Islands have been much less studied than the Hawaiian or Canary Islands volcanoes.

The island is roughly circular, with a diameter of 30 km. The main feature is a lateral collapse caldera at Monte Amarelo volcano, which is 9-km wide, and open towards the east. Pico is the summit cone which rises 100 m above the caldera rim.

The steep slopes of Fogo are larger than the volcanoes of the Canary islands where a number of giant lateral collapse structures have been identified.

Villages on the island include; Relva, Achada Grande, Cova Figueira, Figueira Pavão, Fonte Aleixo, Patim, Vicente Dias, São Filipe, and Galinheiros.

2014 Eruption
An eruption of Fogo volcano began on 23 November 2014. Some residents stayed outside their homes overnight due to ongoing earthquakes.

1995 Eruption
The eruption of Fogo volcano occurred at Cha das Caldeiras volcano, along a WSW component of the broad western rift zone. The 1995 eruption occurred on the western or WSW rift zone of the Cha das Caldeiras volcano, but it also triggered some eastward movement of the summit and eastern flank of the volcano. This has implications for future collapses at the volcano because it shows that Cha das Caldeiras volcano may be approaching an unstable condition.

1951 Eruption
The eruption occurred at Cha das Caldeiras volcano, along a N–S eruptive fissure
zone. Surface fissuring occurred around the northernmost vents of the eruption, at Monte Preto de Cima, and the southern group of vents Monte Orlando and Monte Rendall.

Further reading
Mata, Joao, et al. "The 2014–15 eruption and the short-term geochemical evolution of the Fogo volcano (Cape Verde): Evidence for small-scale mantle heterogeneity." Lithos 288 (2017): 91-107.

Masson, D. G., et al. "Flank collapse and large‐scale landsliding in the Cape Verde Islands, off West Africa." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 9.7 (2008).

da Silva, S.H., Day, S.J. and Fonseca, J.F.B.D., 1999. Fogo Volcano, Cape Verde Islands: seismicity-derived constraints on the mechanism of the 1995 eruption. Journal of volcanology and geothermal research94(1-4), pp.219-231.

Fogo Volcano Eruptions

2014, 1995, 1951, 1909, 1857, 1852, 1847, 1816, 1799, 1785, 1769, 1500-1761?