Abstract
The February 1963 to January 1964 eruption of Gunung Agung, Indonesia’s largest and most devastating eruption of the twentieth century, was a multi-phase explosive and effusive event that produced both basaltic andesite tephra and andesite lava. A rather unusual eruption sequence with an early lava flow followed by two explosive phases, and the presence of two related but distinctly different magma types, is best explained by successive magma injections and mixing in the conduit or high level magma chamber. The 7.5-km-long blocky-surfaced andesite lava flow of ∼0.1 km3 volume was emplaced in the first 26 days of activity beginning on 19 February. On 17 March 1963, a major moderate intensity (∼4 × 107 kg s−1) explosive phase occurred with an ∼3.5-h-long climax. This phase produced an eruption column estimated to have reached heights of 19 to 26 km above sea level and deposited a scoria lapilli to fine ash fall unit up to ∼0.2 km3 (dense rock equivalent—DRE) in volume, with Plinian dispersal characteristics, and small but devastating scoria-and-ash flow deposits. On 16 May, a second intense 4-h-long explosive phase (2.3 × 107 kg s−1) occurred that produced an ∼20-km-high eruption column and deposited up to ∼0.1 km3 (DRE) volume of similar ash fall and pyroclastic flow deposits, the latter of which were more widespread than in the March phase. The two magma types, porphyritic basaltic andesite and andesite, are found as distinct juvenile scoria populations. This indicates magma mixing prior to the onset of the 1963 eruption, and successive injections of the more mafic magma may have modulated the pulsatory style of the eruption sequence. Even though a total of only ∼0.4 km3 (DRE volume) of lava, scoria and ash fall, and scoria-and-ash pyroclastic flow deposits were produced by the 1963 eruption, there was considerable local damage caused mainly by a combination of pyroclastic flows and lahars that formed from the flow deposits in the saturated drainages around Agung. Minor explosive activity and lahar generation by rainfall persisted into early 1964. The climactic events of 17 March and 16 May 1963 managed to inject ash and sulfur-rich gases into the tropical stratosphere.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bonadonna C, Houghton BF (2005) Total grain-size distribution and volume of tephra fall deposits. Bull Volcanol 67:441–456
Bonadonna C, Ernst GGJ, Sparks RSJ (1998) The thickness variations and volume estimates of tephra fall deposits: the importance of particle Reynolds number. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 81:173–187
Booth PW, Matthew SW, Sisson RE (1963) Bali’s sacred mountain blows its top. Nat Geograph 124:436–458
Cadle RD, Kiang CS, Louis J-F (1976) The global scale dispersion of the eruption clouds from major volcanic eruptions. J Geophys Res 81:3125–3132
Carey S, Sparks RSJ (1986) Quantitative models of the fallout and dispersal of tephra from volcanic eruption columns. Bull Volcanol 48:109–125
Carey R, Houghton BF, Thordarson T (2010) Tephra distribution and eruption dynamics of wet and dry phases of the 1875 eruption of Askja volcano, Iceland. Bull Volcanol 72:259–278. doi:10.1007/500045-009-0317.3
Durant AJ, Rose WI (2009) Fine ash content of explosive eruptions. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 186:32–39
Fierstein J, Nathenson M (1992) Another look at the calculation of fallout tephra volumes. Bull Volcanol 54:156–167
Hansen JE, Wang W-C, Lacis AA (1978) Mount Agung eruption provides a test of a global climatic perturbation. Science 199:1065–1068
Houghton BF, Gonnermann HM (2008) Explosive basaltic volcanism: constraints from deposits and models. Chemie der Erde 68:117–140
Kusumadinata K (1964a) The eruption of the Agung volcano in Bali in 1963. Bull Geol Surv Indonesia 1.1 (Notes):12–15
Kusumadinata K (1964b) Renewed activity of the Agung volcano in January 1964. Bull Geol Surv Indonesia 1(2):38
Kusumadinata K (1964c) Lahars of the Agung volcano as a secondary destructive element. Bull Geol Surv Indonesia 1(2)
Lyons JL, Waite GP, Rose WI, Chigna G (2010) Patterns in open vent, strombolian behavior at Fuego volcano, Guatemala, 2005−2007. Bull Volcanol 72:1–15. doi:10.1007/s00445-009-0305-7
Mossop SC (1964) Volcanic dust collected at an altitude of 20 km. Nature 203:824–827
Pardo N, Cronin S, Palmer A, Proctor J, Smith I (2012) Andesitic Plinian eruptions at Mt. Ruapehu: quantifying the uppermost limits of eruptive parameters. Bull Volcanol. doi:10.1007/s00445-012-0588-y
Pyle DM (1989) The thickness, volume and grainsize of tephra fall deposits. Bull Volcanol 51:1–15
Rampino MR, Self S (1982) Historic eruptions of Tambora (1815), Krakatau (1883), and Agung (1963), their stratospheric aerosols, and climatic impact. Quat Res 18:127–143
Rampino MR, Self S (1984) Sulphur-rich volcanic eruptions and stratospheric aerosols. Nature 310:677–679
Rose WI, Self S, Murrow PJ, Bonadonna C, Durant AJ, Ernst GGJ (2008) Pyroclastic fall deposit from the October 14, 1974, eruption of Fuego, Guatemala. Bull Volcanol 70:1043–1067
Self S, King AJ (1996) Petrology and sulfur and chlorine emissions of the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia. Bull Volcanol 58:263–285
Self S, Rampino MR, Barbera JJ (1981) The effect of large 19th and 20th century volcanic eruptions on zonal and hemispheric surface temperatures. J Volc Geotherm Res 11:41–60
Self S, Gertisser R, Thordarson T, Rampino MR, Wolff JA (2004) Magma volume, volatile emissions, and stratospheric aerosols from the 1815 eruption of Tambora. Geophys Res Lett 31:L20608. doi:10.1029/2004GL020925
Surjo I (1964) Lahar of the Agung volcano after the eruption of 1963. Bull Geol Surv Indonesia 1(2):39–43
Surjo I (1965) Casualties of the latest activity of the Agung volcano. Bull Geol Surv Indonesia 2(1):22–26
Surjo I (1981) Report on the volcanic activity in Indonesia during the period 1961–1963. Bull Volcanol Surv Indonesia No 104:58–94
Tanguy J-C, Ribiére C, Scarth A, Tjetjep WS (1998) Victims from volcanic eruptions: a revised database. Bull Volcanol 60:137–144
Walker GPL (1973) Explosive volcanic eruptions—a new classification scheme. Geol Rundschau 62:431–446
Watt SFL, Pyle DM, Mather TM, Martin RS, Mathews NE (2009) Fallout and distribution of volcanic ash over Argentina following the May 2008 explosive eruption of Chaitén, Chile. J Geophys Res 114:B04207. doi:10.1029/2008JB006219
Wheller GE (1987) Petrogenetic studies of Indonesian volcanism. PhD thesis, University of Tasmania, 370 pp
Wheller GE, Varne R (1986) Genesis of dacitic magmatism at Batur Volcano, Bali, Indonesia: implication for the origins of stratovolcano calderas. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 28:63–78
Whitford DJ (1975) Strontium isotopic studies of the volcanic rocks of the Sunda arc, Indonesia, and their petrogenetic implications. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 39:1287–1302
Wilson L, Walker GPL (1987) Explosive volcanic eruptions VI: ejecta dispersal in plinian eruptions: the control of eruption conditions and atmospheric properties. Geophys J Roy Astron Soc 89:657–679
Wilson L, Sparks RSJ, Huang TC, Watkins ND (1978) The control of volcanic column heights by eruption energetics and dynamics. J Geophys Res 83:1829–1836
Woods AW (1993) Moist convection and the injection of volcanic ash into the atmosphere. J Geophys Res 98(B10):17,627–17,636
Zen MT, Hadikusumo D (1964) Preliminary report on the 1963 eruption of Mt. Agung in Bali (Indonesia). Bull Volcanol 27:269–300
Acknowledgments
We thank the Indonesian Volcanological Survey, Bandung, West Java, for their hospitality and assistance. K. Kusumadinata provided information and unpublished data; M. Samud and M. Santoso provided assistance in the field. The Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) kindly granted permission to work on Bali in 1979. Field work was supported by NASA grant NSG5145. Reviews by J. Fierstein and J. L. Macias, and comments by Associate Editor J. Gardner, considerably improved an earlier version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: J.E. Gardner
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Self, S., Rampino, M.R. The 1963–1964 eruption of Agung volcano (Bali, Indonesia). Bull Volcanol 74, 1521–1536 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-012-0615-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-012-0615-z