List of active, dormant & extinct volcanoes in India – Download Study Materials Here!!!

The sights of hot lava erupting from volcanoes on the internet make an exciting watch. Well, India’s only live volcano in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is showing such dramatic movements lately. According to the researchers at Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Barren Island volcano located in the Andaman Sea had started showing activity in the year 1991 after being dormant for over 150 years has once again started spewing ash. The team of scientists have confirmed in their observation that during the daytime only ash clouds were observed. However, after sundown, the team observed red lava fountains spewing from the crater into the atmosphere, and hot lava flows streaming down the slopes of the volcano, it said. India has a list of six volcanoes including the only live one, Barren Islands volcano which also happens to be the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia.

A conventional way of classifying magmatic volcanoes is by their frequency of eruption. They are called active if they erupt regularly. Dormant or inactive volcanoes are those that have erupted in the past times but are now quiet while the volcanoes that have not erupted since ages are termed extinct. The Barren Island volcano, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is erupting once again. After remaining dormant for 150 years, it first erupted in 1991 and now showed signs of powerful volcanic eruptions.

A team of scientists led by Abhay Mudholkar, from CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO) in Goa, reported that the volcano is active and spewing smoke and lava once again. CSIR-NIO said in a statement said: “The only live volcano in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is erupting once again. The Barren Island volcano, located 140-km north-east of Port Blair, dormant for more than 150 years started erupting in 1991 and has since then shown intermittent activity.

List of all Volcanoes in India

Along with the rest of the Andaman Islands, Barren Islands volcano is a part of the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and lies about 138 km (86 mi) northeast of the territory’s capital, Port Blair. The first eruption of the volcano was recorded in the year 1787, since then it erupted 11 times with the most recent one being on January 23, 2017.

“On the afternoon of January 23, 2017, the scientific team on board CSIR-NIO’s research ship R V Sindhu Sankalp were busy collecting sea floor samples in the Andaman Basin near the Barren volcano when it suddenly started spewing ash,” the NIO has said. “The team moved about one mile from the volcano and began closely observing it. It was erupting in small episodes lasting about five to ten minutes,” said the release.