Its name is obviously evocative: Piton de la Fournaise, the large volcano on the island of Réunion in the Mascarene archipelago of the Indian Ocean. It is the counterpart of Piton des Neiges, an ancient volcano with which it shared its volcanic activity for nearly 500,000 years. Since the latter's extinction, it reigns over the island, occupying 25% of its surface area, with a diameter of 30 km and a beautiful collapse zone, called Enclosure Fouqué, which surrounds its main crater, the Dolomieu crater. All around, a lunar landscape, regularly reinvented since the Piton is the most active volcano in the world in terms of eruptions.
These have occurred on average every 15 months since the 18th century, the date of the first observations. Intense activity, therefore, impressive lava flows that never fail to attract lovers of great natural spectacles, and which have earned the place a UNESCO World Heritage listing. However, these eruptions, called effusive because they flow relatively slowly, remain much less dangerous than those of other explosive massifs such as those in the Pacific ranges.
This is due to the very nature of the whole, the Piton de la Fournaise participating in hot spot volcanism and not fault, therefore not linked to the work of the large tectonic plates. Now a national park, the place offers the public spectacular viewpoints, the Plaine des Sables then the forest, which climb up to the Pas de Bellecombe where the large mineral plain of Enclosure Fouqué begins, culminating at 2,630 m at the top of the crater. Next come the Grandes Pentes which descend towards the coast and the Grand Brûlé area where the Route des Laves crosses. A magical place, then, connecting us to a geological scale that transcends us.
Antoine Vigne
