Geological ESDM: Activities Of Mount Marapi West Sumatra Experience Improvement

A number of residents passed through the rice fields with the background of Mount Marapi in Agam Regency, West Sumatra. (ANTARA/Muhammad Zulfikar).

SUMBAR - The Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) reported that visually the activity of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra (West Sumatra) has increased.

"Visually, the activity of Mount Marapi has increased. Its activity is dominant in the form of gusts with a maximum smoke height of 400 meters above the peak, and the eruption occurs again with a maximum eruption ash height of 2,000 meters above the peak," said Head of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Muhammad Wafid in a written statement, Monday, November 4, quoted by Antara.

This was conveyed by Muhammad Wafid regarding the evaluation of Mount Marapi for the period 16-31 October 2024. In the report, the Geological Agency reported that the eruption or eruption was re-recorded after the earthquake was not recorded in the previous two weeks.

"The gust earthquake has also increased," he said.

The increase in the two types of earthquakes was a form of energy release due to the accumulated energy that had been built in the previous two weeks, which indicated an increase in internal volcanic earthquakes (VA) related to the supply/intrusion of magma from depth.

Then, local tectonic earthquakes around Mount Marapi are also reported to be still active fluctuating. Currently, the seismic energy reflected in the Real-time Seismic Amplitude Measurement (RSAM) fluctuates slightly above the baseline.

In the last two weeks, the value of the dv/v (seismic speed variation) of Mount Marapi tends to decrease below zero, which is interpreted as a tendency to increase pressure (stress) on the volcanic body.

Likewise, he said, the coherence tends to continue the decline, which reflects the condition of the subsurface medium (near the surface) of Mount Marapi's body, which is increasingly disrupted, due to an increase in pressure on the mountain's body.

Based on the results of a thorough analysis and evaluation until November 1, 2024, the activity level of Mount Marapi remains at level II (alert).

with several recommendations, including the community, climbers or visitors are asked not to enter or carry out activities within a three-kilometer radius of the eruption center (Kawah Verbeek) of Mount Marapi.