Pico do Fogo (2829 m) Fogo Island, Cape Verde

Pico do Fogo is the highest peak of Cape Verde, rising to 2829 m above sea level. It is an active stratovolcano lying on the island of Fogo. The main cone last erupted in 1675, causing mass emigration from the island, while a subsidiary vent erupted in 1995. The only deadly eruption was in 1847 when earthquakes generated in all the island claimed several lives. The mountain's slopes are used to grow coffee, while its lava is used as building material. Near its peak is a caldera and a small village, Chã das Caldeiras, is inside this caldera.

The eruption in 1995 began on the night of 2–3 April, covering the island with a cloud of ash. Residents were evacuated from Chã das Caldeiras, as their homes were destroyed. A team of United States Geological Survey (USGS) volcanologists has been monitoring an eruption that began just after midnight on April 3 on Fogo. Like Hawaii, Fogo is a "hot-spot" volcanic island. It is the youngest and most active volcano in the Cape Verde Islands. The Cape Verde Islands, a short chain of volcanic islands that generally are younger at the western end, formed as the African Plate moved towards the east over the hotspot in much the same way that the Hawaiian Ridge formed as the Pacific Plate moved west-northwestward over a hotspot. Unlike the island of Hawaii, Fogo consists of a single volcano, so the island is nearly round and about 25 km in diameter. The large summit caldera (about 10 km in the north-south direction and 7 km in the east-west direction) is not located in the center of the island, but rather towards its northeastern corner. The caldera is bounded by steep near-vertical fault scarps on the north, west, and south sides but is breached to the east where lava can flow to the coast. The current north-northeast-trending eruptive fissures are located along the western flank of a large cone named Pico, which formed inside the caldera between about 1500 and 1760. Residents reported that the eruption was heralded by small earthquakes which began about six days prior to the outbreak of lava. These earthquakes increased in size and frequency through April 2, and a particularly strong one was reported at about 8 p.m., some four hours before the eruption apparently began. Just after midnight, the fissures opened on the flank of Pico. One resident said it looked as if the cone had "been cut by a knife." The eruption began with Strombolian (moderately explosive) activity, quickly followed by a curtain-of-fire fountain that fed a flow which cut off the road to the village of Portela by 2 a.m. The 1,300 people living inside the caldera fled during the night to the safety of villages on the north coast. No one was killed; about 20 people required medical attention, although our reports do not indicate the nature or severity of their injuries. We suspect that they inhaled volcanic fumes and ash particles, which caused difficulties in breathing. During the day on April 3, the island was covered by a thick cloud of dark ash that reached 2.5 to 5 km high. The initial flows were pahoehoe lava, although their extent was apparently small. The violent eruption produced lava bombs up to 4 m across that were ejected as far as 500 m from the vents. On April 4, lava fountains reached 400 m high beneath a cloud of ashes about 2 km high. A new scoria cone formed that was open to the southwest and fed a growing 'a'a flow. On April 5, the new 'a'a flow reached the western caldera wall and destroyed about five houses and the main water reservoir. During these first few days, civil authorities evacuated about 3000 people.

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