Volcanic eruptution case study - Montserrat

• Location of Montserrat


  Montserrat is an island and overseas territory of the UK. It is located within eastern Caribbean. It is south-west of Antigua and north-west of Guadeloupe. It is only 16.5 km long, the size Dublin.
• Plate boundary (Cause)


  Montserrat sits on a destructive plate boundary (oceanic + continental)

  It sits on the North Atlantic and the Caribbean plate.
• Process (Cause)

  Oceanic plate is subducted below the continental. It melts forming Magma which breaks through forming volcanic islands.
• Signs of eruption (Cause)

  • no activity for 370+ years
  • 1st July 1995: rumbling from volcano
  • sesmic activity (earthquakes below volcano) for a week
  • steam from old crater
• Effects

  • Ash covered the south of the island

  ↳ health impacts

  ↳ polluted water sources

  • More than half of Montserrat became uninhabitable
  • infrastructure destroyed
  • 19 deaths
• Responses

  • Evacuated to the north of the island - underdeveloped, poor conditions
  • gained access to the south in the day to keep island functioning
  • many people left the island
  • evacuation zone were set up
  • charity set up temporary school