Semeru Volcano of Indonesia

Semeru Volcano of Indonesia

Semeru volcano of Indonesia erupted recently, sending ash and fumes into the air. Three major volcanoes in Indonesia are known to be the most dangerous. Other volcanoes, such as the Merapi volcano (Java) and Sinabung volcano (Sumatra), also erupted recently.

Semeru Volcano:

Semeru is an active volcano in East Java, Indonesia. It is located in the subduction zone, where the Indo-Australia plate subducts under the Eurasia plate.

It is the highest mountain on the island of Java. This stratovolcano is also known as Mahameru, meaning "The Great Mountain" in Sanskrit. The name derived from the Hindu cosmology's mountain of Meru or Sumeru, the abode of gods.

Indonesia, with the maximum number of active volcanoes in the world, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific’s Ring of Fire.

Semeru volcano is also the part of the Island arcs formed by the subduction of the Indo-Australian plate below Sunda Plate. The trench formed here is called Sunda trench whose major section is the Java Trench.

Pacific Ring of Fire:

The Ring of Fire is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped belt about 40,000 km long and up to about 500 km wide.

The Ring of Fire is not a single geological structure. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in each part of the Ring of Fire occur independently of eruptions and earthquakes in the other parts of the Ring.

The Ring of Fire, also referred to as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.

It traces boundaries between several tectonic plates—including the Pacific, Cocos, Indian-Australian, Nazca, North American, and Philippine Plates.

Island Arcs:

Island arcs are one of the oldest and most common geological processes on Earth. They occur when diverging oceanic crusts form in the middle of tectonic plates.

Each side of the crustal plate is formed by oceanic lithosphere, and the island arc represents a subduction zone that is moving away from the continental landmass, as opposed to a convergent zone that is subducted beneath the continental landmass.

Island arcs can either be active or inactive based on their seismicity and presence of volcanoes. Active arcs are ridges of recent volcanoes with an associated deep seismic zone.

They also possess a distinct curved form, a chain of active or recently extinct volcanoes, a deep-sea trench, and a large negative Bouguer anomaly on the convex side of the volcanic arc.