Volcanoes in Thailand

Volcano in a rice field (photo for illustration)

For those who are somewhat familiar with the geology of Thailand, I am not telling you anything new when I say that a substantial part of the country is volcanic in origin. After all, Thailand is located on the periphery of the so-called 'Ring of Fire'. This Ring of Fire consists of approximately 850-1.000 volcanoes that have been active for the past 11.700 years. This number is estimated to account for about 2/3 of the world's total fire-breathing formations.

Not only are the vast majority of the Earth's most active volcanoes with peaks above sea level located in this Ring of Fire, but it is also historically established that the four largest volcanic eruptions to have occurred in the past 11.700 years have all occurred in the Ring of Fire. were to be located. The Ring - which is not actually a ring but rather has a jagged horseshoe shape - stretches for nearly 40.250 kilometers and runs from the southern tip of South America, along the west coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, through Japan to New Zealand. Zealand.

The Ring of Fire is the result of plate tectonics, the movement and deformation of the Earth's solid surface due to shifts in the underlying layers of the Earth's crust. Much of the volcanic activity occurs along so-called subduction zones, which are convergent plate boundaries where two tectonic plates meet. The heavier plate is slid or submerged under the other plate. When this happens, the melting of the plates produces magma that rises from the pressure of the overlying plate and erupts to the surface like a volcano. The subduction zones are also where the deepest ocean trenches of the Earth are located and where deep earthquakes occur. The trenches are formed because as one plate sinks under the other, it bends downward. Earthquakes occur when the two plates scrape against each other and when the subduction plate bends. The Ring of Fire is also called the 'Pacific Ring of Fire' and that has everything to do with the fact that the most active volcanoes can be found in and around the Pacific Ocean.

The Ring of Fire, to be clear, is not one coherent geological structure. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in each part of the Ring of Fire happen independently of eruptions and earthquakes in the other parts of the Ring. Next to and between the Ring's currently active and dormant volcanoes are belts of older extinct volcanoes, which were subducted long ago in the same way as the currently active and dormant volcanoes. These extinct volcanoes last erupted many thousands or even millions of years ago.

Volcanoes in Asia (photo for illustration)

I apologize in advance for using a number of scientific terms, but that is unfortunately insurmountable because it comes from the often all too hermetic jargon of geologists. The area we know today as Thailand actually lies on two large tectonic plates – also called micro-continents – that emerged from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana: Shan-Thai to the west and Indochina to the east. Geologically, Thailand is part of a linear entity stretching from the Shan states of Burma, possibly as far as the northwestern part of the Malay Peninsula. There are also stratigraphic similarities with the eastern Himalayas, Yunnan, Laos and Cambodia. If this sounds like Chinese to you, please note that this structurally complex belt of Precambrian and early Mesozoic formations is known to geologists as the 'Yunnan-Burmese-Malaysian geosyncline'

The Shan-Thai and Indochina plates, according to most geologists, merged along the so-called Nan-Uttaradit line during the Late Triassic, about 200 million years ago. A fault line along which, millions of years ago, four larger and easily distinguishable volcanic zones formed on the territory of what we now know as Thailand. These four areas or zones, like the Nan-Uttaradit line, are oriented in a north-south direction. In the northwest we find the so-called Chiang Rai-Chiang Mai zone, east of this zone and largely parallel to the aforementioned is the Ciang Khiong-Tak zone. Then in the northeast there is a concentration area around Loei and finally an elongated zone extending all the way to the Gulf of Thailand that runs roughly from Phetchabun to Chanthaburi. In fact, these zones are part of a much larger volcanic system that ran north into southern China's Yunan and northern Vietnam, and may have reached as far south as Borneo…

Many of the northern Thai volcanoes are hardly recognizable as such today due to the vegetation and erosion. An exception is the 400 meter high craters of the Doi Pha Khok Hin Fu and Doi Pha Khok Champa Daet in Lampang, which belong to the foothills of the Chiang Rai-Chiang Mai zone. Despite the dense vegetation, they have a crater rim that is still fairly easy to distinguish and a considerable depth.

Much better known are a number of extinct volcanoes in Isaan and especially in my home province of Buriram. An entire Forest Park has been developed around the 265 meter high Khao Kradong volcano, in the shadow of the provincial capital. The crater in the shape of a half moon is located in the center of this park. This volcano was probably last active 300.000 to 400.000 years ago, making it one of the youngest on Thai territory. When I first visited this place almost 12 years ago, people were busy bulldozing part of the crater.to be decent' and they had just built a simple wooden viewing platform on the edge. Now there is a neat boardwalk next to part of the crater and you can cross over an exciting wobbly suspension bridge with steel tension cables. The massive lava blocks that are scattered in the area are reminders of the origin of this park area

At the top are the remains of a sandstone Khmer shrine that may date from the 13th century. This ruin was transformed at the end of the 19th century into a bell tower in which, in addition to a number of antique bronze bells, a replica of a footprint of the Buddha can be found. The huge seated Buddha, Phra Suphattharabophit next to the shrine has a base that is 14 meters wide, while the statue, which is mostly made of brick and cement, is more than 20 meters high. On nice days, the terrace in front of the Buddha offers an impressive panorama of Buriram city and the surrounding area.

Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung

For the most famous volcano in Thailand, we have to go to the south of Buriram, where Prasat Hin Phanom Rung was built between the tenth and thirteenth century on top of a 400 meter high extinct volcano, one of the most beautiful Khmer temples ever…. I have already published a number of articles on this very fascinating temple on Thailandblog and I would like to refer those interested to these contributions

If you were to ask me about the most spectacular volcano in Thailand, I think it would be the Khao Angkhan at the Wat Khao Angkhan temple of the same name. It is located a stone's throw from Phanom Rung, just west of the village of Charoen Suk in the Chaloem Phra Kiat district. The temple Wat Khao Anghkan was built on the edge of Khao Angkhan, an extinct volcano that was probably last active 700.000 years ago. From the air, this mountain resembles a Garuda, a mythical guardian spirit, raising its head to the south. The temple was built on the edge of the huge bowl-shaped crater typical of a caldera volcano. This crater was created at the time because part of this volcano collapsed into the magma chamber, which had emptied after a huge eruption. A small panoramic viewpoint has been built next to the temple's ubosot, which offers you an unforgettable sight of this caldera and its distant surroundings. It is also the right place to get a breath of fresh air in the shade….

To conclude this: For those who would have been frightened after reading about all this natural disaster, a little reassurance. The closest active volcano is located on Barren Island, an island in the Andaman Sea that is located about 500 km from the Thai coast near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This 354 m high volcano last erupted in October 2018 and is the only active volcano in the historic arc of marine volcanoes between Sumatra and Burma.