Mount Mayon

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 Contents

1. Title page
2. Contents
3. Introduction
4. Aim1
5. Aim2
6. Aim3
7. Aim4
8. Aim5
9. Final conclusion
10. Bibliography

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 Introduction
I am writing a volcano report on Mount Mayon a volcano in the Philippines. I chose to do a report on
Mount Mayon because it is known as the most perfectly formed strato volcano in the world and that
drew me into deciding on doing a report on it. I have five aims to cover in my report and shall use
the internet to find my information as I could find no boos in the public library on Mount Mayon in
particular and could not find any more useful sources of information. My aims are

1. To find out what caused Mount Mayon

2. To find out how many times Mount mayon has erupted and when
3. To find out how much devastation Mount Mayon has caused
4. To find out how Mount Mayon has affected the surrounding area
5. To find out what is happening at Mount Mayon at present.

Mount Mayon is a major landmark in Albay in the Philippines

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 Aim 1
My fist aim is to find out what caused Mount Mayon to form. Mount Mayon is a strato volcano in
the Philippines and is part of the pacific ring of fire. It was formed when the Philippine Sea plate was
pushed underneath the Philippine mobile belt. As the Sea plate was pushed under the mobile belt
and into the Earth’s mantle it began to melt and the magma that it formed was pushed up
weaknesses in the Earths crust and one of these weaknesses is where Mount Mayon now stands.
The cone that is there today is much bigger than it was at first as a result of lava flows and it has
managed to keep its symmetrical cone shape intact without the cone being destroyed for Hundreds
of years.

In conclusion to my first aim Mount Mayon is a naturally

formed volcano that was created when the Philippine
Sea plate was pushed under the Philippine mobile belt
and its cone shape was caused by hundreds of lava flows
that have built its sides higher and higher.

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 Aim 2
My second aim is to find out how many times Mount Mayon has erupted and when. Scientists first
started recording information about Mount Mayon it has erupted Forty-nine times. In fact Mount
Mayon is the volcano in the Philippines that is described as the most active. The first recorded
eruption over a 400 year period was in 1616 and the latest was on August 10 2008 when a
comparatively small amount of lava was thrown a short distance down the side of the volcano. The
most destructive time was on the 1st of February 1814 when over 2,200 people nearby died. Another
example of Mayon erupting was in 2006 when from the 18 th of July until the 25th of October Mount
Mayon erupted with “no apparent loss of life” during the period in which it erupted. After the 25 th
mount Mayons volcanic activity lessened to only a small effusion of lava over time.

In conclusion to my second aim in recorded

history Mount Mayon has erupted many times
and has well earned its title as the most active
volcano in the Philippines and as it has erupted
49 times over a four hundred year period it is
very likely that it will erupt many more times.

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 Aim3
My third aim is two find out how much devastation Mount Mayon has caused in recorded history.
Mayon has caused a considerable amount of destruction to the surrounding area the town that was
least well of was probably Cagsawa which was hit with the full force of mount mayons famous
eruption on the 1st of February 1814 when the town was bombarded with tephra then covered in
ash that piled up to 9 metres (30 feet) high. The only place not covered in ash or rock was the top of
the church which is now at about ground height because the rest is concealed under a pile of ash.
This eruption also affected other aspects of the scenery. Volcanic material was “blasted” out of the
volcanoes cone and snapped many trees, hundreds more were burnt to cinders by lava that flowed
out of the volcano. Rivers that supplied other towns and cities with water were filled in and
damaged and many farmers lost their livestock to the gases given of and lava. Over 2,200 people
died and many more were injured nearby. Approximately 100 of the people that died were said to
have been in the church in cagsawa praying for their lives, unfortunately their prayers weren’t
answered and they all perished. Few other eruptions had as big an effect most only reaching the
bottom of the volcano itself but on the 30 th of November 2006 Typhoon Durian caused mudslides
down the side of Mount Mayon and dislodged massive chunks of rock to roll down the sides of the
volcano as boulders. In total the death count was around 1000 people with many many more injured
and in hospital.

In conclusion to my third aim

Mount Mayon has caused great
devastation to people nearby not
only because of the lives lost but
also because of the land destroyed
and the rivers that provided towns
and cities with water that they
needed for everyday lives were
damaged.

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 Aim4
My 4th aim is to simple find out how Mount Mayon has affected nearby towns and cities. Obviously
as stated in my last aim Mount Mayon has caused much destruction to its surroundings but has it
given anything back. In fact Mount Mayon being 2463m high is a huge tourist attraction and
hundreds of people book short holidays in Albay only to go and see Mount Mayon and the ruined
remains of the cagsawa church. Though most people only go for a short visit almost all of those
people want accommodation, food and to buy some souvenirs or presents for their friends. This sort
of tourism can be a good source of money for cities near to Mount Mayon one of those cities being
Legazpi city. Tourists have been known to describe Legazpi as just like any other city dirty, shabby
and over all dull with nothing much to do but still many people buy holidays their just to see Mount
Mayon

Legazpi city

In conclusion to my 4th aim Mount Mayon has as well as destroying the lives of many people brought
a lot of income to people working in other cities because of the tourist attraction it poses as.

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 Aim5
My 5th and final aim is to find out what is happening at Mount Mayon to this day. On the 10 th of July
2009 volcanologists raised the danger level concerning Mount Mayon from 1 to 2 out of a possible 5.
This was because they detected some small earth tremors caused by the volcano and they believed
that these could be early signs of an eruption and they were right. For the proceeding months there
were several small eruptions before on the 14 th of December the danger level was raised to number
3 after sulphuric gas emissions were increased due to over 80 tremors under the earth. On the next
six days 7000 families were transported out of the 8km danger as lava flowed out of the volcano and
molten rock was catapulted high into the air. On the 20 th of December the threat level was raised up
to 4 meaning that there could be an eruption on a large scale at any time. This was done because
large amounts of lava flowed frequently out of the volcano and the amount of sulphur dioxide that
was produced became 750 tonnes per day. A further 2000 families were transported to other
locations. On the 25th of December the sulphur dioxide emissions rose to a staggering 8900 tonnes
per day and families were advised to spend Christmas and New Year in the shelters that they had
been moved to. The danger level was reduced to 3 on the second of January 2010 as the volcanoes
output of fumes and lava decreased and the volcano became less active. From then on there have
only been some small lava flows and the gases released have been in lesser quantities.

In conclusion to my 5th aim at this current point in time Mount Mayon is still quietly pouring lava
over its sides as it rests from the eruption that happened from the 10 th of July onwards but though it
caused many people to move away over the festive period it did not build up to its full potential and
meant that most people that lived in the 8km danger zone will have a home to go back to.

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 Final conclusion
Overall Mount Mayon is a very active volcano formed when the Philippine Sea plate was pushed
under the Philippine mobile belt and lava was pushed through a weakness in the earths crust. It has
erupted 49 times in recorded history and its most devastating eruption was in 1814 when the
volcano almost completely covered the town of Cagsawa excluding the church tower. This eruption
also killed a lot of farmers livestock and damaged the terrain surrounding it. Though causing
devastation to lots of people Mount Mayon has also brought a large amount of tourists to the
Province of Albay and helped other people by giving them jobs to do like catering or running
hotels/hostels. The volcano is very active still erupting at this point in time and probably will be for
much longer.

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Bibliography

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayon_Volcano I used Wikipedia for

information because though not always reliable it did have a good amount of information and I
checked its information against other websites finding it to be valid.

www.Universetoday.com>Space>Earth This was the website that I

checked Wiki’s information against and found their information matched except in Wikipedia it
said MT Mayon had erupted 49 times but this one said it had erupted only 47.

www.BBC.Co.UK This is the website that I used to find news reports about the 2009-
10 eruptions.

www.LEGAZPIBOARD.com I researched about tourism and its relationship to

Mount Mayon on this website.

Google Images I used this website to find pictures for my report.

Cooltext.com Not entirely important but I used this site to generate the fire
writing on the title page.

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