Geography of Montserrat Geography of Montserrat Montserrat is an island in the Caribbean Sea, in the Leeward Islands. Its nearest neighbours in the island chain include Guadeloupe to the south-east, Antigua to the north-east and Nevis to the north-west. The island is 16 km (9.9 mi) long and 11 km (6.8 mi) wide, with a coastline of about 40 km. The island is volcanic and largely mountainous. The Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995, causing widespread devastation, including the destruction of the capital and formerly largest settlement on the island, Plymouth. The southern part of the island is now uninhabitable and human
São Miguel Island the third volcano on São Miguel, the Água de Pau Volcano started erupting on the western flank of Povoação volcano in two phases. The first phase, composed of the older materials, erupted from lava flows and Trachyte pyroclasts, the secondary phase corresponded to volcanic products that began erupting 400,000 years ago. These latter deposits included pyroclastic, trachyte flows (lava and surges), mud flows and a mixture of basalts. In what would become the western portion of the island a fourth volcano formed: the Sete Cidades Volcano erupted 200,000 years ago and continued to erupt until about 36,000 years ago. Between