Taal Volcano

Taal Volcano (IPA: [taʔal]; Tagalog: Bulkang Taal), also known as Taal Caldera, is a large caldera filled by Taal Lake in the Philippines. Located in the province of Batangas about 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of Manila, the volcano is the second most active volcano in the country, with 39 recorded historical eruptions, all concentrated on Volcano Island, near the middle of Taal Lake. The caldera was formed by prehistoric eruptions between <670,000 and <6,000 years ago. The cones Batulao, Maculod, and Sungay are remnants of the early pre-caldera Taal system, with Batulao being the earliest known cone.

Taal Volcano has had several violent eruptions in the past, causing deaths on the island and the populated areas surrounding the lake, with an overall recorded death toll of about 6,000. Because of its proximity to populated areas and its eruptive history, the volcano was designated a Decade Volcano, worthy of close study to prevent future natural disasters. The site was declared National Geological Monument in 1998 and a national park in 2018.

Etymology

Taal Volcano was known as Pulo, Bombou or Bombon in the 1800s.

The municipality of Taal and the Taa-lan River (now known as Pansipit River) were named after the Taa-lan tree, which grows along the river. The tree also grew along the shore of Bombon Lake (now known as Taal Lake). The Taa-lan River was a narrow channel that connects the present-day Taal Lake and Balayan Bay to each other.

Taal is a Tagalog word in the Batangueño dialect that means true, genuine, and pure.

Geography

Taal Volcano is part of a chain of volcanoes lining the western edge of the island of Luzon. They were formed by the subduction of the Eurasian Plate underneath the Philippine Mobile Belt. Taal Lake lies within a 25–30 km (16–19 mi) caldera formed by explosive eruptions between <670ka (Sampaga Formation) and <3ka-1000CE (Buco Formation). Each of these eruptions created extensive ignimbrite deposits reaching as far away as present-day Manila.

Taal Volcano is primarily located in the province of Batangas however, the northern caldera rim and the northern segment of its massive ignimbrite shield is located on Tagaytay which is in Cavite. The northern half of Volcano Island falls under the jurisdiction of the lake shore town of Talisay, and the southern half in San Nicolas. The other communities that encircle Taal Lake include the cities of Tanauan and Lipa, and the municipalities of Talisay, Laurel, Agoncillo, Santa Teresita, San Nicolas, Alitagtag, Cuenca, Balete, and Mataasnakahoy.

Surrounding the caldera is a large ignimbrite shield which extends in all directions. It is composed of the ignimbrites and other tephra deposits from prehistoric events. Since the formation of the caldera, subsequent eruptions have created a volcanic island within the caldera, known as Volcano Island. This 5-kilometer (3.1 mi) island covers an area of about 23 square kilometers (8.9 sq mi) with the center of the island occupied by the 2-kilometer (1.2 mi) Main Crater with a single crater lake formed from the 1911 eruption. The island consists of different overlapping cones and craters, of which forty-seven have been identified. Twenty six of these are tuff cones, five are cinder cones, and four are maars. The Main Crater Lake on Volcano Island is the largest lake on an island in a lake on an island in the world. This lake used to contain Vulcan Point, a small rocky island inside the lake. After the 2020 eruption, the Main Crater Lake temporarily disappeared due to volcanic activity, but had returned by March 2020.

Permanent settlement on the island is prohibited by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), declaring the whole Volcano Island as a high-risk area and a Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ). Despite the warnings, some families remain settled on the island, earning a living by fishing and farming crops in the rich volcanic soil.

Wildfires

On May 6, 2024, Batangas governor Hermilando Mandanas declared Volcano Island a "no man's land" due to series of wildfire devastation on its southwest tip on May 2, near the Binintiang Munti observation station.

A grassfire broke out on April 2, 2025. It was eventually put out 21 hours later.

Gallery

Eruptive History

Prehistoric eruptions

The prehistoric eruptions of Taal were either large caldera forming events or minor eruptions similar to what is observed today. The major eruptions helped create the present Taal Lake, with a large eruption termed “The Pasong Fluidal Juvenile Bomb-Rich Ignimbrite Formation” ejecting 144 cubic kilometers of material, shaping the immediate landscape with pyroclastic flows and thick ash deposits across southern Luzon. Prehistoric eruptions left significant deposits of pumice and pyroclastic material across southern Luzon, with thicknesses up to 45 meters in some areas, impacting vast regions. All major eruption deposits show evidence of plagioclase, pyroxene and magnetite fractionation, although magma evolution for the youngest three of the several eruption units was dominated by magma mixing. Over time, major eruption-units have been becoming more mafic from 63 wt.% SiO2 for the Alitagtag Formation to 58 wt.% SiO2 for the Buco Formation.

Comparing Taal’s prehistoric “major” eruption volumes to better studied calderas, the DRE of the Buco eruption may compare to the 41 ka eruption of Irosin caldera which produced a 121 km2 caldera. The Alitagtag eruption, being of similar volume to the 1425 eruption of Kuwae caldera in Vanuatu which may have formed a 72 km2 caldera. The Indang eruption has a dense rock eruptive volume equivalent to that of the eruption of Mt. Mazama around 7,700 years ago, which formed a 80 km2 caldera. The Pasong eruption produced 15 km3 DRE more material than the Akahoya eruption that formed Kikai Caldera 7.3 ka. An estimated size for the Pasong caldera may have been larger than 340 km2.

There is a very limited age data available for Taal’s prehistoric deposits, therefore most estimates for the exact age of Taal Caldera are based on dates of deposits from other volcanoes or of a rather unknown origin. The most commonly published estimate for the age of Taal Caldera is 140 ka. This date is based on a lava of unknown origin on Laurel Island and hence, is not considered accurate.

An alternate age of ~30 ka has been suggested for Taal Caldera, however, this is a Carbon-14 date from the Cubao pumice flow-unit, which belongs to the Diliman Tuff Formation. There is currently no clear source volcano for the Diliman Tuff Formation because the chemistry does not match either published chemistry of the Taal Caldera but shares similarities with the Laguna Caldera with it being more primitive.

The Taal Group

The Taal Group denotes the ancient pyroclastic sequence of the Taal Caldera Volcano. It features 10 named formations and three unofficial ones. Each formation consists of one eruption unit, which is separated from the surrounding formations by a paleosoil or modified deposits. Informal 'units' consist of a bundle of multiple narrow layers containing many ancient soils. The separate beds inside a ‘unit’ lacks the distinctiveness needed for broad correlation, though in certain instances it has it has been feasible to link a series of layers within a 'unit'.

The Taal Group has a maximum thickness of approximately 180 m and is exposed around Taal Lake, Tagaytay Ridge and its surrounding ignimbrite plains to the coastline. Optimal outcrops are found along river valleys, recent road-cuts and quarries. Historical deposits from Volcano Island cover the Taal Group. and is underlain by older scoria cones and Miocene to Paleocene aged sedimentary and intrusive rocks. Multiple ignimbrites extend below lake level and the contacts with the pre-Taal basement are not typically  exposed. Where they are exposed, deposits of the Taal Group lie atop lava from Mt. Sungay, the Lipa and Saimsim scoria cones, the Upper Miocene Dingle Limestone and the Lower Miocene Tolos Batholith. A Segment of the Taal group could be redeposited either as lahar deposits or fluvial.