The Royal Society expedition to Montserrat, B. W. I. - The volcanic history and petrology of Montserrat, with observation on Mt Pelé, in Martinique

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Abstract
Early in 1936 the Royal Society, in collaboration with the Colonial Office, organized an expedition to Montserrat, with the object of studying the geology of the island, and of investigating earthquakes and soufrière activity that had caused considerable damage and alarm in the years 1934 and 1935. The personnel of the expedition consisted of Dr C. F. Powell as physicist, and the writer as geologist. Dr Powell carried out seismological observations with Jaggar shock-recorders and a Wiechert seismograph; his results are published separately (Powell 1937, 1938). A study of the soufrières and their gases was made jointly by Dr Powell and myself, with local assistance. As regards both earthquakes and soufrières, this report deals almost entirely with geological and topographical data for which I am personally responsible. The present account of the geology and petrology of Montserrat* is based on 11 weeks’ field work carried out in March, April and May 1936. A short visit to Martinique, early in May, during which several days were devoted to the study of Mt Pelé (Montagne Pelée) and its surroundings, proved of great value as a basis of comparison.