VOLCANICITY OF GUADELOUPE - HISTORICAL ACTIVITY -THE VOLCANIC RISK IN GUADELOUPE - FUTURE SCENARIOS

Phreatic historical eruptions at Soufriere of Guadeloupe

'Soufriere' of Guadeloupe, seen in 1999 from the east of Capesterre: gas plume of the Southern Crater and Falls of Carbet (1st and 2nd fall). A sight partly compatible with the 1st written description Soufriere by Christophe Colomb when he discovered Guadeloupe on November 4, 1493 (Letter from Dr. Chanca, 1494)

Soufriere's last magmatic eruption of the volcano have previously been dated to 1440 AD, but all the latest work on the reinterpretation of the eruption of the 16th century indicate that this one took place around 1530 AD (Boudon and Al, in review) that is 37 years after the discovery of Guadeloupe by Christophe Colomb on November 4, 1493 (Chanca, 1494).
This eruption preceded the arrival of Europeans in Guadeloupe in 1635. Since this date, the historical eruptive activity was primarily of phreatic nature with 6 eruptions, the minor eruptions of 1690, 1812, 1836-1837 and 1956 and more violent eruptions of 1797-1798, and 1976-1977.

The oldest descriptions of the fumaroles' activity of Soufriere were given by catholic missionaries at the 17th century, often in a very romantic and colored style they sometimes suggested in a doubtful way a not confirmed explosive activity. The Breton Father (1647, 1665) described active fumaroles at the top and the presence of crystalline sulphur deposits, having been used for the powder of the weapons with fire.
This is the origin of the widespread name of Soufriere' (Sulphur mine in French) also used for the other active volcanoes of the arc of the Lesser Antilles having a hydrothermal system and developed fields of fumaroles. On his writings Father Du Tertre (1654; 1667-1671) reports in detail the rise of Soufriere' in 1647 and the observations he made of the fumaroles in the summit's craters. He also describes the morphology of the top of Soufriere: "This mountain is almost round; at the top of the platform two small eminences rise, like two small points of rock, distant of twenty or thirty steps: one on the South side and the other on the North side; that seems to be the mouth of Hell, or a chimney of Montgibel *, smoking like an ignited furnace, and in the most serene nights, one can sees small flames of fire among the smoke... "
* Arab name of the Etna volcano

Although this romantic description cannot be held as evidence of an unspecified explosive activity it is possible that Father Du Tertre described a vigorous degasification of the summit fumaroles possibly accompanied by a very low volume of solid particles (deteriorated fragments of rock, fumarole mineral).