Little if anything had been heard of the sinkhole that was discovered on the north-western bluff of Montserrat beyond Rendezvous bluff on February 17, 2016. But this past week Montserrat Volcano Observatory Director Rod Stewart reported that the hole has doubled in size since it was last examined.
The director according to a ZJBNews report says the sinkhole is now approximately ten meters in diameter compared to five meters when it was first discovered in February last year.
Stewart is now warning as he reminds, “the sinkhole is in a dangerous area… it’s clearly not an area that people should be visiting.”
He tol d to ZJBNews: “When we looked at it carefully it looks as if the enlargement is only at the top of the sinkhole… collapsing from the top which is normal when you’ve got a really steep slope.”
He explains, “If it had been enlarged from the bottom that would sort of, may be an indicator of further collapses to come, so although it’s got bigger it’s a natural phenomenon and it doesn’t indicate there’s going to be any great collapses.”
Stewart also explained the size of the hole has only opened at the top. “In fact we left some steel bars next to the sinkhole and they’ve gone, and we suspect they’ve fallen into the sinkhole,” emphasising, “so it’s clearly not an area that people should be visiting.”
Last year February when the sink hole was discovered, the MVO scientist had said, “It is certainly not linked to the eruption at the volcano.”
pics: sink hole taken from different angles on top the bluff