I've been negligent with news of volcanic activity over the last few weeks, so I thought I'd briefly update us on some notable events -- you can see the details over on the Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program's Weekly Volcanic Activity Report.

Enjoy!

Paluweh, Indonesia

Over much of the last few months, Paluweh has been producing small to moderate ash plumes that reach 2-4 km above the Indonesian island. As I've mentioned before, many of these explosions are due to the collapse of a lava dome that forms in the crater area. As it collapses, the pressure is released and an explosion occurs, sending both a plume skyward and a pyroclastic flow downward as the dome crumbles. The NASA Earth Observatory image taken April 19 (above) shows the paths some of these flows have taken (grey valleys in the green landscape). One pathway, at the bottom of the image, has moved so much material that a small volcanic delta has formed from dome debris being moved downslope.

Image: NASA Earth Observatory, taken April 19, 2013.