Luvi Marie

A Unique Experience in Visiting Taal Volcano in the Philippines



Posted: Friday, November 16, 2007

by
http://www.continentalgirl.com

Rising from the largest island of the Philippines is Taal Volcano, which is an active volcano situated in Talisay and San Nicolas in the province of Batangas. Taal Volcano consists of an island within Lake Taal located within a caldera formed a very large eruption. The Taal Volcano is around 50km from the city of Manila, capital of the Philippines.

Taal Volcano has erupted a large number of times and number of those times explosively. These eruptions have caused loss of life and property in the vacinity with a considerable death toll estimated to be approximately 5000-6000 casualties. Despite the alarming numbers, it is considered to be an ideal place to see when it is calm and in it's less active state due to the elements that make this island quite unique.

Geological Reference

The Lake Taal being situated in in the Philippines, forms part of a chain of volcanoes the lie along the western side of the island of Luzon. These volcanoes created by the subduction of the Eurasian Plate beneath the Philippine Mobile Belt are today either active or dormant in nature. The Lake of Taal which houses the volcano lies within a 25 to 30 km caldera which was formed by four violent and high intensity eruptions anywhere approximately 500,000 to 100,000 years ago.

Ever since the caldera's formation, subsequent eruptions eventually created one more volcanic island within the caldera. This island is called as Volcanic Island and has an area of around 23 square kilometers that consist of craters and overlapping cones. Thus far 47 different craters and cones have been identified to exist on the island.

The Crater and the Inner Island

Volcano Island already a volcanic island also contains a lake which is about 2km across on it is largest axis, this lake is named Crater Lake. Crater Lake a serene and calm warm body of water has within it yet another volcanic island, and this is named Volcanic Point. This particular volcanic island is known to be the world's largest island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island

These elements of Taal Volcano makes it a great place to see when it is not on it's most active state. There have been 33 recorded eruptions since 1572, today it lies in a dormant state and has been so since 1977 even though the volcano has been showing signs of unrest since 1991. This has been evident with relatively strong seismic activity, ground fracturing events, and the formation of small mud geysers within the different parts of the island.

Even with the current state of unrest the volcano is experiencing, there has been many of visits to the island not only by the scientists and volcanologists, but also by the media and tourists. The Lake Taal presents a great chance to see one of the wonders of nature which has taken hundreds and thousands of years to create, this uniqueness alone makes this an ideal place in the Islands of Paradise Philippines to see for the more adventurous and curious.
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