Tar River Estate House, Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat.

BGS image ID: P063643

The Tar River Estate House on 17th September 1996 with a dome-collapse pyroclastic flow passing behind down the Tar River valley. This dome collapse continued for more than nine hours. A large part of the dome collapsed on 17th September and this caused a rapid reduction in pressure over the vent at the summit of the volcano. As a result, shortly before midnight, there was a magmatic explosion during which blocks of lava 1.5 m. in diameter were blasted 2.1 km. from the dome. The ongoing eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano has devastated much of the small Caribbean island of Montserrat. The eruption of the lava dome-building volcano began in 1995 and volcanic hazards have included pyroclastic flows, pyroclastic surges, vulcanian explosions, lateral blasts, ash clouds and lahars.

BGS hold an extensive photographic archive of the volcanic activity on Montserrat. 23,000 images are available on Geoscenic, the BGS online image service.

Bob McIntosh

Dr. Archie MacGregor and Dr. Cecil F. Powell, 1936 Royal Society Montserrat Expedition

BGS image ID: P536847

Dr. Archie MacGregor (right) (with pith helmet) Geologist from the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and Dr. Cecil F. Powell (left) of Bristol University, Seismologist and winner of Nobel Physics Prize in 1950 for his work on Pi Mesons. 1936 Royal Society Montserrat Expedition.

The Royal Society Expedition was led by Dr A.G. MacGregor, a geologist, and Dr C.F. Powell, a physicist. In May 1936 Dr T.A. Jagger of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory visited Montserrat at the invitation of the Royal Society, and arriving with him, on the same steamer, was Mr F.A. Perret the distinguished volcanologist from the Mt Pelée Volcano Museum.

Powell carried out seismological investigations between 24th March and 24th July using four horizontal Jagger shock recorders, one Kew-Jagger vertical shock recorder and one two-component horizontal Wiechert seismograph. MacGregor studied the geology and petrology of Montserrat during 11 weeks of field work carried out between March and May 1936. Both men published preliminary and detailed accounts of their respective studies.
The Archibald Gordon MacGregor Archive

Bob McIntosh

Frank Perret, 1867-1943. 1936 Royal Society Montserrat Expedition.

BGS image ID: P536925

Frank A. Perret, 1867-1943. 1936 Royal Society Montserrat Expedition.

Frank Perret started out as a electrical engineer but later turned to volcanology spending 10 years studying Mount Pelée, Martinique from the start of the 1929-1932 eruption.

The image is from the The Archibald Gordon MacGregor Archive. In 1936 the Royal Society in collaboration with the Colonial Office organized an expedition to Montserrat to study the geology and investigate the earthquakes and soufrière activity that had caused damage in the previous two years. The personnel on the expedition were Dr C F Powell and Dr A G MacGregor.

Bob McIntosh