South Soufriere Hills South Soufriere Hills South Soufriere Hills is a 35 ha patch of forest on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea. It forms one of the territory’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs). The IBA comprises the largest remnant of Montserrat’s native forest in the Soufrière Hills, in the exclusion zone. It has survived the volcanic eruptions and pyroclastic flows that have devastated and depopulated the southern half of the island since the late 1990s. It lies only about 1.5 km south of 915 m Chances Peak, the highest point of the island
Devastation Trail and the intensity of the earthquakes also increased. By nightfall, the earthquakes stopped, and the eruption began. The fissure eruption produced fountains of lava which cascaded to the floor of the crater some 100 m below the erupting fissure. Forest fires were also noted. Over the next few days, the lava fountains became higher and higher, eventually reaching a height of more than 500 meters. Erupting pumice started building a new cinder cone that was later named " Puu Puai", (gushing hill). A lava lake also developed on the crater floor. The eruption produced both Pele's hair, the geological term