“It is certainly not linked to the eruption at the volcano” (Soufriere Hills volcano), said Montserrat Volcano Observatory Director Rod Stewart, almost immediately after the discovery of a Sink Hole on the north western bluff of Montserrat beyond Rendezvous bluff on February 17, 2016.
According to reports the hole was said to have been first cited by a helicopter pilot who notified the MVO of the find. The observatory has a GPS station on the North West Bluff, which they check at least once a month.
Very soon after, Rod Stewart reportedly said, “we are doing lots of investigations on the ground. We are also considering what instruments we can deploy into the sinkhole.”
They followed by posting video which showed steam coming from the ground on their social media page. The director said that initial tests of the steam did not show any sulphur or any other gases.
On February 23, Her Excellency the Governor Elizabeth Carrier who is vested with the responsibility for safety and security in Montserrat, gathered the MVO director and DMCA director to a press conference to bring the public up to date on the information regarding the sinkhole which Director Stewart maintains, “though puzzling and interesting, it is not something that is a general concern, it’s just something localized that is generating heat.”
The Governor said in her remarks on the matter said: “Our concerns are to ensure that there is safety in that area, so people know that they shouldn’t be going in that area partly because, if there’s a hole in the ground and people can fall through it and we don’t know how solid the ground around that hole is – (we) are ensuring the public is as informed as we are…”
“…we don’t want people flocking to the area, so the best thing we can do is to inform them as much as we know the science of it,” she concluded.
Meantime, as the MVO staff continue to monitor and carry out tests, the MVO Director Stewart told the press conference, “It is certainly not linked to the eruption at the volcano…this is likely to have been an old Soufriere but for it to maintain heat for a long time after the volcano died, is a bit of a puzzle, and I think that’s the word I’d like to use – it’s a puzzle but it’s not a worry…”
He was sure to emphasise and assure: “There is no restart of volcanic activity! Silver Hills is a dead volcano. It’s heavily eroded, the rocks we can see are the sort of internals of volcanoes and there’s a localized heat source that we’ve yet to pin down but it’s very small scale and it is not volcanic activity starting up there…”
As the Montserrat Volcano Observatory continues to investigate the sinkhole which was discovered last week on the North West Bluff of the island.
MVO Director Rod Stewart told Discover “we are doing lots of investigations on the ground. We are also considering what instruments we can deploy into the sinkhole.”
Last week, the scientists posted video of steam coming from the hole on their social media page. Stewart said initial tests of the steam did not show any sulphur or any other gases, adding that “further tests may follow.”
The Governor’s Office has made a concerted effort to ensure that the public is informed about the recent discovery of a sinkhole on the northwestern bluff of the island.
Her Excellency the Governor Elizabeth Carrier organized the press conference Tuesday morning to provide the media with an update on the phenomenon. In taking the lead her Excellency the Governor explains that the idea is to make people aware of what the occurrence is and the safety concerns.
