THE REVEGETATION OF TAAL VOLCANO, PHILIP-/^''^ '^•^ 



PINE ISLANDS 



FRANK C. GATES 



Carthage College, Carthage, Illinois 



On January 30, 1911, culminated the last severely destructive 

 eruption of Taal Volcano, of which Dean C. Worcester's de- 

 scription may be found in the April, 1912, number of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine. This eruption entirely destroyed 

 all the \dllages on the island as well as some of those on the 

 mainland, with the loss of about 1400 lives. Ashes, pumice, 

 small stones, and acid vapors were spread over the island and 

 thrown across the lake to the mainland, devastating the coun- 

 try to the west and southwest of the volcano. Ashes were in 

 addition thrown over large areas of surrounding country, re- 

 sulting in the defoliation of the vegetation not otherwise affected. 

 The volcano was left bare of plants. It did not long remain 

 plantless, however, as the following account of the pertinent 

 facts of its revegetation up to March, 1915, will indicate.^ 



The volcano is a low mountain (304 meters) situated in a lake, 

 known as Taal Lake or Lake Bombon, in Batangas Province, 

 about 63 km. south of Manila, Luzon Island, P. I. The surface 

 of the island is very rugged, due to the very active erosion brought 

 about by the heavy tropical rains, 1750 to 2000 mm., which run 

 off the steep slopes of the volcano with great rapidity. The 

 active crater is in the center of the island. It is about 2,3 km. 

 long and 1.7 km. wide at the top. More than half of the bottom 

 is occupied by a lake, whose elevation is about 2.5 meters above 

 sea level — the same as that of the surrounding Lake Bombon. 



1 For a more detailed account, including an annotated list of the plants found 

 on the volcano up to April, 1914, see Gates, F. C. "The Pioneer Vegetation of 

 Taal Volcano." Philippine Jour, of Science, 9, Sect. 0:391-434, 1914, with 

 plates III to X. 



195 



THE PLANT WORLD, VOL. 20, NO. 7 

 JULY, 1917 



