Banjarnegara Sileri Crater Sprays 40 Meters Of Mud

Screenshot of the Sileri Crater monitoring camera (CCTV) in Dieng Plateau, Kepakisan Village, Batur District, Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java/ANTARA HO

PURWOKERTO - Dieng Volcano Observation Post (PGA) Officer Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) Aziz Yuliawan said Sileri Crater in Dieng Plateau, Kepakisan Village, Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java, spewed mud as far as 40 meters.

"Today (Monday), Sileri Crater was observed spewing ordinary mud as far as 40 meters at 10.58 WIB," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, January 6.

According to him, the mudflow is not dangerous because it is still within the danger radius of Sileri Crater which is in Alert status (Level II) since December 19, 2024 at 18.00 WIB, along with an increase in activity in the form of a phreatic eruption from the eastern part of the crater which occurred on December 18, 2024 at 15.12 WIB.

In this case, he said, the phreatic eruption was recorded on a digital seismograph with an earthquake duration of about 200 seconds and a maximum amplitude of 42.7 millimeters.

The phreatic eruption is a mudflow with a distribution to the north-east of approximately 100 meters, to the west approximately 25 meters, and to the south approximately 10 meters.

"As with the character of a phreatic eruption, this eruption was not preceded by signs of significant increase in volcanic activity both visually and instrumentally in the form of seismicity and/or geochemicals before the eruption due to very shallow sources of pressure," he explained.

In this regard, he said PVMBG recommended that people and visitors/tourists not enter the 500 meter radius area from the Sileri Crater center and not be allowed to spend the night around the crater.

According to him, the mudflow on Monday was the first to occur since Sileri Crater was alert.

His party also increased monitoring of Weigh Crater activity in Sumberejo Village, Batur District, Banjarnegara, because so far in Dieng there are two craters that often show increased activity, namely Sileri Crater and Weigh Crater.

"Meanwhile, Weigh Crater does not show an increase in activity, but people and visitors/tourists should not enter Weigh Crater and also be vigilant when digging the surrounding soil because it has the potential to be threatened with toxic CO2 gas, especially farmers whose agricultural areas are located in KRB (Disaster Risk Area) Weigh Crater," he said.

Despite the increase in Sileri Crater activity, Aziz said a number of tourist attractions in the Dieng Plateau such as the Arjuna Temple Complex and Sikidang Crater are still safe for tourists to visit because they are quite far from Sileri Crater.