A small cloud of steam rises from Taal Volcano, as seen from Tagaytay City. — ROBERT JAWORSKI L. ABAÑO
LUCENA CITY: The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded 53 volcanic earthquakes and 13 tremor episodes in Taal Volcano over the past 24 hours, indicating continued low-level volcanic unrest.
In its bulletin released Wednesday (April 30) morning, Phivolcs said the volcanic tremors lasted between two to 50 minutes. These findings suggest ongoing magmatic activity beneath or near the volcano.
This activity follows a pattern of increased seismic events in recent days.
On Monday (April 28), Phivolcs logged 37 volcanic earthquakes and eight tremors. On Sunday, 56 quakes and 14 tremors were reported. Between April 8 and 26, Taal recorded 126 volcanic earthquakes and 34 tremor episodes.
Despite the uptick in seismic activity, Taal Volcano remains under Alert Level 1, which indicates low-level unrest. Phivolcs emphasised, however, that this does not mean the volcano has returned to normal and that eruptive activity remains a possibility.
Phivolcs defines volcanic earthquakes as being caused by magma-related processes beneath an active volcano, distinguishing them from tectonic earthquakes which are caused by fault movements.
Volcanic tremors, on the other hand, are described as continuous seismic signals with low-frequency oscillations, typically lasting over a minute.
During the latest monitoring period, sulfur dioxide emissions from the volcano’s main crater measured 672 metric tonnes — still within normal parameters. No volcanic smog (vog) or upwelling of hot volcanic fluids from the main crater lake was observed. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
