Mount Parker (Philippines)

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The Parker stratovolcano, the local population is also known under the name Falen, is a 1828 m high mountain in the Philippines. The unusual for the Philippines was named the mountain in the 20th century during the American occupation of the Philippines. He was appointed to the U.S. General Frank Parker, who charted along with Captain Russell Maughan on behalf of the U.S. Army Map Service in the thirties Mindanao.

Geography

The coated with low vegetation mountain is located near the southern tip of Mindanao Island in the province of South Cotabato, in Daguma Mountains and overlooks the Sarangani Bay. The city of General Santos City is located approximately 30 kilometers east of the volcano. The summit is dominated by up to 2.9 km wide caldera, in whose center is the Maughan Lake today. The caldera rim is between 200 and 500 meters above the water level of the lake. In the northwest of the caldera, the lake drains into the Gao - River, a tributary of Alah - Rivers. Thus, the lake is located in the watershed of the Rio Grande de Mindanao.

Hazard potential

The Parker is classified as a volcano with high risk potential. In contrast to other volcanoes in Mindanao, it is in the north of the Sangihe volcanic arc and is the only volcano on the island, has a distinctive, large summit caldera. This implies an explosive eruption type, a Plinian eruption, close. On its flanks are large amounts of ejecta derived from recent eruptions. Studies of the area revealed that the Parker area devastated by his previous eruptions of the volcano to a distance of 20 km; He thus shows parallels to the eruption of Pinatubo on Luzon in 1991. It was further found that the Parker in the last 3,800 years had three large outbreaks, two of them in the last 600 years. Another danger emanates from the crater, as was shown on September 6, 1995, when a tidal wave about 60 people killed. The tsunami was triggered by landslides that had temporarily dammed the course of Alah - Rivers. Maybe it had also come to landslides in the lake. In 2002, a major earthquake also occurred in the area of ​​Parker with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale, since the mountain is under increased attention from the authorities.

Eruption of 1641

The Parker was most volcanologists until recently largely unknown. The efforts made in recent years studies of the geological structure of the oral traditions of the natives and the Spanish documents from this period show that he was the starting point of the great eruption of 3 and 4 January 1641. Spanish sources state that the eruption was heard even to Zamboanga City and was seen on the evening of January 3 in the city as muskets and cannon. On January 4, at 9 clock probably was the main eruption of Parker. Spanish chroniclers of the increasing volume of the cannon thunder and it was assumed at first, this could have come from Dutch galleons. Travelers from Southeast Asia later reported that the eruption on January 4, 1641 to Vietnam and Cambodia, ie in a radius of almost 1800 km, was audible. On the afternoon of January 4 already covered a dense ash cloud the sky over Zamboanga, so that people could not see from 16 clock hand over eyes.

A small flotilla, which had set out to Ternate, the Cape San Augustin reached on January 4 against 10 clock in the morning at the output of the Gulf of Davao to the Pacific Ocean. The crew stated that had darkened at this time, the sky over the Celebes Sea to the extent that the crews could make nothing on land. They drove through a dense ash precipitation and put the running lights to prevent collisions of vessels. The sailors believed the Judgment day has dawned.

The Spanish chronicler and Jesuit Magisa assumed that the volcano lies near the Cape San Augustin, but reported that the crews ran out of a volcanic eruption on an island Sanguil. Only the French geologist Alexis Perrey continued in 1860 Sanguil equal to the Sangihe Island in present-day Indonesia and called the then known Awu volcano as the point of eruption. In the reports is of Sanguil, Sangil, Sanguir or Sanguiz the speech and in the 17th century, these terms for today's region Sarangani and Balut and Sarangani Islands were used. The volcano Balut is still referred to by Einheimnischen as mountain Sanguil.

The French scientist Guillaume Le Gentil wrote in A Voyage in the Indian Ocean (1779-1781) from his stay in the Philippines. Gentil reported by a large volcanic eruption in January 1640, which was loud and angst fulfilling the country had devastated a large area. According to him, the island lay for weeks in darkness and even remote areas such as Manila and Borneo were affected. He explained that the volcano is about 250 kilometers from Zamboanga, lying in the territory of the Rajah of Buayan. After the eruption of a lake with milky white water had formed at the foot of the volcano. It is now known that this report describes the great eruption of 1641.

An indigenous oral tradition reports: A long time ago a torrent swept over the land, destroyed and burned the forest and left a lake of fire. The torrent carried away the trees and the lake smelled of burning sulfur.

In the great eruption large parts of the island of Mindanao were wrapped by a large volcanic ash cloud in complete darkness. The ash fall of the great eruption reached the islands of Cebu and Panay in the north and Jolo in the southwest. The investigations showed the history of the great eruption of 1641, in which today's caldera was formed on the mountain top. It is believed that the Parker reached a height of about 2000 m before the eruption. The volcano blew off the summit region and erupted large amounts of glutflüssigem rock that made racing on the mountain slopes to the valley voluminous pyroclastic clouds and large lahars. It is believed that the eruption was possibly even greater than that of Pinatubo in 1991; worldwide weather records from this period, there was, according to 1641/42 to a small drop in temperature.