La Grande Soufrière (volcano)

Soufriere

The Soufriere (or La Soufrière ) is an active volcano on Basse- Terre, one of the two main islands of the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. With 1467 m La Soufrière is the highest mountain in the Lesser Antilles. It forms the center of the built up of volcanic rock massif Grand Découverte - Soufrière and is located in the 17,300 -acre National Park on the island.

On the basis of studies of the last major rock magma eruption has been dated to the time around 1440 AD. In the period after the settlement of the island of Guadeloupe by Europeans, the Soufrière was repeatedly active. It was 1797/98, 1836/37, 1956 and between June 1975 and March 1977 long-lasting in part to activities. The last eruption, a phreatic eruption led to a four-month evacuation of the city lying at the foot of the volcano Basseterre including a transfer administration of the island and a total of 60,000 inhabitants of the island. Among scientists ( and Others Claude Allègre and Haroun Tazieff ), there was a dispute over who actually emanating from the Soufriere danger and the need for evacuation. In effect, the outbreak did not cause any damage and also called no lives. In the time of the evacuation of the islands of the filmmaker Werner Herzog traveled to the capital of Basse- Terre. His impressions he had in the film La Soufrière - Wait For an inevitable disaster.

Since 1950, the volcanic and seismic activity of the Soufriere be fully observed. Since the actual observation center in Saint -Claude in 1976 had to be evacuated, it was in the Fort Saint -Charles. Since 1989, a modern equipped monitoring center is (L' Observatoire Volcanologique et sismologique de Guadeloupe) on the 9 kilometers from the volcano of Soufrière remote Houëlmont in the community Gourbeyre.

The volcanic cone rises about 300 feet above the Savane à Mulets called plateau. The cone has a diameter of about 900 meters, at the top of a diameter of about 400 meters at its base. The cone is the only naturally forest-free zone on Basse- Terre. On the south crater come from two Vulkanschlünden ( Chasm Chasm Tarissan and Dupuy ) constantly sulfur vapors from solfataras from.

Looking for Maw Chasm Tarissan

The crater lake Lac Flamarian on the Citerne