Mount Marapi:
Indonesia’s Mount Marapi erupted recently, sending a column of ash 1.5km (4,900ft) above its peak.
- Mount Marapi is an active volcano located in the Padang Highlands of western Sumatra, Indonesia.
- It is a stratovolcano composed of layers of hardened lava, ash, and rocks from previous eruptions.
- It is part of the Ring of Fire—a long, horseshoe-shaped, seismically active belt that rings the Pacific Ocean.
- The highest peak among several volcanoes in the highlands, Mount Marapi rises to 9,485 feet (2,891 meters) above sea level.
- Its summit contains the Bancah caldera—which has a diameter of 0.9 mile (1.4 km)—and is characterized by a series of overlapping craters.
- The volcano’s deadliest single event, which resulted in the deaths of 60 people, came in 1979 after heavy rains saturated a region of loose ash (called a lahar) on the slopes that was left over from an earlier eruption.
