Volcano

Piton de la Fournaise

Shield volcano · 2,632 m · France

Piton de la Fournaise sits on the Somali Plate, above a hotspot, away from plate boundaries. 204 eruptions are known since the end of the last ice age, the most recent in 2026. Its major eruptions caused at least 3 deaths.

Piton de la Fournaise, on Réunion Island, is a shield volcano and one of the most active on the planet, with more than one eruption a year on average. Most of its lava flows stay inside the Enclos Fouqué, a vast uninhabited depression.

In 2007 one of its largest known eruptions caused the Dolomieu crater to collapse to a depth of more than 300 m. It is monitored around the clock by the volcano observatory of the Institut de physique du globe de Paris.

Elevation

2,632 m

Type

Shield volcano

Tectonic Setting

Intraplate (hotspot), oceanic crust

Dominant Rock

Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Plate

Somali Plate

Country

France

Last Eruption

2026

Known Eruptions (Holocene)

204

Max. Explosivity (VEI)

5

Known Fatalities

3

Nearby Cities

Cities of more than 20,000 people within 100 km. At least 35,000 people live in those within 30 km.

• 23 kmSt.-Benoit35,000 people
• 49 kmSt.-Denis190,000 people

Notable Eruptions

Eruptions that caused deaths or damage, or with an explosivity index of 4 and above (NOAA).

• 19721972 Eruption · VEI 23 deaths

• Wikipedia article

Sources : Global Volcanism Program, 2026. Volcanoes of the World (v. 5.4.0; 7 Aug 2026), Smithsonian Institution, doi:10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW5-2026.5.4 (volcano.si.edu) · NOAA NCEI · USGS · Wikidata