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Mt Giluwe Volcano | John Seach
Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea
6.05 S, 143.88 E
summit elevation 4368 m
shield volcano
Mt Giluwe is the highest volcano in Oceania. It is considered one of the volcanic seven summits. It is 162 m higher than Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
The summit contains two prominent peaks with a prominence of 400 m. These are the main peak, 4368 m, and the east peak, about 4300 m. The summit of Mt Giluwe has occasional snowfall.
The flanks of the volcano are dissected by radial streams which show well-preserved volcanic features. Scoria cones contain summit craters up to 200 m in diameter, and 30 m deep. The craters are mostly breached on the side away from the summit of Mt Giluwe. Several lava flows are present on the slopes, which are up to 20 m thick.
Mt Giluwe has a basal diameter of 30 km. Frosts occur above 3000 m at any time of the year, and the maximum daily reaches a maximum of 20°C. The annual rainfall is over 2.5 m. Most of the mountain is covered with montane rain forest and grassland.
Eruptions of Mt Giluwe volcano
Mt Giluwe volcano erupted subglacially during the last ice age.
Below 3500 m there are parasitic volcanoes with well preserved composite cones, scoria cones, craters, and lava flows.Ttwo steep-sided composite cones reach a relative height of over 300 m. The volcano is considered extinct.
Subglacial eruptions occurred at Mt Giluwe, which has only occurred at two other tropical volcanoes- Kilimanjaro and Mauna Kea.
Further reading
Blake, D.H. and Löffler, E., 1971. Volcanic and glacial landforms on Mount Giluwe, territory of Papua and New Guinea. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 82(6), pp.1605-1614.
Pain, C.F. and Blong, R.J., 1976. Late Quaternary tephras around Mt. Hagen and Mt. Giluwe, Papua New Guinea. Volcanism in Australasia. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p.239.
Mt Giluwe Volcano Eruptions
220,000–300,000 years ago.