TEMPO.CO, Yogyakarta - The magmatic eruption of Mount Merapi becomes more difficult to detect due to several factors.
“The signs of the Merapi magmatic eruption in the future are not as beautiful as the eruption signs in 2010,” said Section Head of Merapi Volcano for Research and Development of Geological Disaster Technology (BPPTKG) Yogyakarta Agus Budi Santoso on Wednesday, May 23, adding that he hoped he could find the signs.
Agus said, before the eruption occurred in 2006 and 2010, the activity and the character of Mount Merapi is very visible, so the estimated time of eruption was more easily to detect. Currently, the volcanic-tectonic earthquake is not yet intense.
From the phreatic eruption on Wednesday, May 23, at 03:31 am, BPPTKG noted a volcano-tectonic earthquake only once in the time frame from 00:00 am to 06:00 am.
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“We hope that before the magma moves toward the surface, the seismic activity increases so that the eruption can be estimated," he said.
In addition to the minimal earthquake activity, the plug of Merapi is now thinner while in 2006 and 2010, it was very pointed that it can strongly indicate the movement of magma.
Before the big eruption in 2010, the Merapi movement marked by the number of volcanic-tectonic earthquakes in early September. The 2010 eruption occurred in October and the deep volcanic-tectonic earthquake could occur up to five times a day in early September.
Entering October 2010, despite the deep tectonic earthquake still occurred, the tectonic earthquakes were already rising very sharply. The transient of deep-to-shallow tectonic-volcano earthquake indicates a migration or magma movement of Mount Merapi.
“So the signs and estimations of the eruption can still be identified," said Agus.
PRIBADI WICAKSONO