Taal Volcano - A Unique Volcano in the Philippines.

Author: Luvi Marie

Rising from the largest island of the Philippines is Taal Volcano, which is an active volcano situated in Talisay and San Nicolas in the province of Batangas. Volcano of Taal consists of an island inside Lake Taal located within a caldera formed from a very large eruption. The Volcano of Taal is about 50km from the city of Manila, capital of the Philippines.

Taal Volcano has been erupting a large number of times and several of those times explosively. These eruptions have caused loss of life and property in the vicinity with a considerable death toll estimated to be between 5000-6000 casualties. Despite the alarming numbers, it is considered to be an great place to visit when it is calm and in it's less active state due to the features that make this island quite unique.

Geological Guide

The Taal Lake being located in in the Philippines, forms part of a chain of volcanos the lie along the western side of Luzon island. These volcanoes created by the subduction of the Eurasian Plate underneath the Philippine Mobile Belt are now either active or dormant in nature. The Taal Lake which houses the volcano lies inside a 25 to 30 km caldera that was formed by four violent and high intensity eruptions anywhere between 500,000 to 100,000 years ago.

Ever since the caldera's creation, subsequent eruptions eventually created another volcanic island inside the caldera. This island is known as Volcanic Island and has an area of about 23 square kilometers that consist of craters and overlapping cones. Thus far 47 different craters and cones have been identified to be on the island.

The Crater and the Inner Island

Volcano Island already a volcanic island also contains a lake that is about 2km wide on it is largest axis, this lake is named Crater Lake. Crater Lake a serene and calm warm body of water has inside it yet another volcanic island, and this is named Volcanic Point. This specific volcanic island is regarded to be the world's biggest island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island

These features of Taal Volcano makes it a fantastic place to visit when it is not on it's most active state. There have been 33 recorded eruptions since 1572, now it lies in a dormant state and has been so since 1977 even though the volcano has been showing signs of unrest since 1991. This has been evident with relatively strong seismic activity, ground fracturing events, and the creation of small mud geysers within the different parts of the island.

Even with the current state of unrest the volcano has been experiencing, there has been numerous of visits to the island not only by the volcanologists and scientists, but also by the media and tourists. The Taal Lake presents a fantastic chance to visit one of the wonders of nature that has taken hundreds and thousands of years to create, this uniqueness alone makes this an great place in Paradise Philippines to visit for the more adventurous and curious.

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