Montserrat of Montserrat is approximately east-southeast of Puerto Rico and southwest of Antigua. The island lies north-northwest of Suriname and French Guiana (France). It comprises and is gradually increasing owing to the buildup of volcanic deposits on the southeast coast. The island is long and wide, with rock cliffs rising above the sea and a number of smooth bottomed sandy beaches scattered among coves on the western (Caribbean) side of the island. Montserrat has two islets, Virgin and Statue Rock. In July 1995, Montserrat's Soufrière Hills volcano, dormant for centuries, erupted and soon buried the island's capital, Plymouth, in more than
Volcano meaningless when compared to the lifespans of humans or even civilizations. For example, many of Earth's volcanoes have erupted dozens of times in the past few thousand years but are not currently showing signs of eruption. Given the long lifespan of such volcanoes, they are very active. By human lifespans, however, they are not. Scientists usually consider a volcano to be "erupting" or "likely to erupt" if it is currently erupting, or showing signs of unrest such as unusual earthquake activity or significant new gas emissions. Most scientists consider a volcano "active" if it has erupted in the last 10,000