La Grande Soufrière
Encyclopedia : L : LA : LAG : La Grande Soufrière
| La Grande Soufrière | |
|---|---|
|
Aerial view La Soufrière erupting. | |
| Elevation: | 1,467 metres |
| Coordinates: | |
| Location: | Guadeloupe, Caribbean |
| Type: | Stratovolcano (active) |
| First ascent: | |
| Last eruption: | 1977 |
| Easiest route: | |
La Grande Soufrière, or simply La Soufrière (French: "sulphur outlet"), is an active stratovolcano located on the French island of Basse-Terre, in Guadeloupe. It is the tallest mountain in the Lesser Antilles, and rises 4,813 ft (1,467 m) high.
The volcano's 1976 eruption lead to an evacuation but no loss of life. There was a well-publicized bitter controversy between scientists Claude Allègre and Haroun Tazieff on whether evacuation should be decided: Allègre held that inhabitants should be evacuated, just in case, while Tazieff held that the Soufrière was harmless. The prefect decided to evacuate, erring on the side of prudence; the eruption did not result in any damage.
Whilst the island was deserted, the German filmmaker Werner Herzog travelled to the abandoned town of Basse-Terre to find a peasant who had refused to leave his home on the slopes of the volcano. His journey is recorded in the film La Soufriere.
References
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.