Pico do Fogo

Pico do Fogo (Portuguese: [ˈpiku du ˈfoɡu]; lit. 'Peak of Fire') is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Fogo, Cape Verde, rising to 2,829 metres (9,281 ft) above sea level. The main cone last erupted in 1680, causing mass emigration from the island. A subsidiary vent erupted in 1995. The only deadly eruption was in 1847 when earthquakes killed several people.

Fogo, which means "fire" in Portuguese, is a hotspot volcanic island. Its most recent eruptions occurred in 1951, 1995 and 2014. It is the youngest and most active volcano in 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.

Fogo consists of a single volcano, so the island is nearly round and about 25 kilometers (16 mi) in diameter. The large summit caldera (about 10 kilometers in the north–south direction and 7 kilometers 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. North-northeast-trending eruptive fissures opened along the western flank of Pico, which formed inside the caldera between about 1500 and 1760. The last eruption from the top was in 1769. The current topography of Fogo, with the caldera open to the sea on the east side, results from the sliding of the east flank of the volcano towards the ocean.

The mountain's slopes are used to grow coffee, while its lava is used as building material.^{[citation needed]} Near its peak is a caldera and a small village, Chã das Caldeiras, is inside this caldera. The crater rim, which reaches 2,700 m elevation, is known as Bordeira.

The eastern side of Fogo collapsed into the ocean 73,000 years ago, creating a tsunami 170 meters high which struck the nearby island of Santiago. The tsunami was dated by isotope analysis of boulders deposited on Santiago.

In 1680 AD, a major summit eruption of Pico do Fogo produced large ash falls over the whole island rendering agricultural lands temporarily unusable and triggering mass emigration from the island, to the neighboring island of Brava in particular.

The 1995 eruption 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.

Residents reported that the eruption was preceded by small earthquakes which began about six days prior to the first eruption of lava. These earthquakes increased in magnitude and frequency through April 2, and a particularly strong one was reported at about 8 p.m., four hours before the eruption apparently began. Just after midnight, 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 activity, quickly followed by a 'curtain-of-fire' lava 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, but about 20 people required medical attention.