"This activity is still above normal when viewed from its seismicity,"Manado, North Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - During the past few days, North Sulawesi`s Mt Lokon`s activity was dominated by shallow volcanic quakes, an officer at the volcano`s observation post said.
On Tuesday (Oct 4), 16 shallow volcanic quakes happened between 00:00 am and 6:00 pm, Yudi, an officer at the mountain`s observation post, said here Tuesday.
Within a 24-hour period on Monday (Oct 3) the observation post recorded three deep volcanic quakes (VA) and 26 shallow volcanic quakes.
Besides, the monitoring post also reported 11 gushing earthquakes occurred and seven distant tectonic earthquakes.
On Tuesday one distant tectonic earthquake with 19 millimeters amplitude and 75 seconds duration was recorded, he said.
Shallow volcanic earthquakes were recorded 16 times with an amplitude of 3-8 millimeters. 75 seconds duration, gushing quakes also occurred twice with an amplitude 35-45 millimeters.
From visual observations, Yudi said , thin, moderate, and thick smoke was spewed from the Tompaluan crater on Mount Lokon to a height of 150-200 meters.
"This activity is still above normal when viewed from its seismicity," said Yudi.
During the past two days, no eruptions were seen happening from the Tompaluan crater but the Vulcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Agency (PVMBG) in Bandung still put the status of Mount Lokon at alert level III.
"The mount`s danger radius has not yet been reduced, the PVMBG still set 2.5 kilometers from the crater, because sudden bursts of incandescent material could still fall within the radius," said the Observation Lokon and Mahawu Monitoring post chief Farid Ruskanda Bina.
Under normal circumstances, volcanic earthquakes recorded up to five times, but after its status was raised to alert level III, seismic activity has not subsided into the normal range .(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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