Mount Muria or Gunung Muria is a dormant

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

on the north coast of

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, about 66 km north of Semarang city. It is located in three Regencies:

Jepara Jepara is a town in the province of Central Java, Indonesia. Jepara is on the north coast of Java, northeast of Semarang, not far from Mount Muria, with a population of 85,970 in mid 2024.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kabup ...

on the west, Kudus on the south, and Pati on the east. Some sources state the mountain has a height of 1602 m, some state 1625 m. Mount Muria was once an island, separated from

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

by the Muria Strait. The strait was one of the

spice trade The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in t ...

routes connecting the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

with Maluku and was probably traveled by

Tomé Pires Tomé Pires (c. 1468 — c. 1524/1540) was a Portuguese apothecary, colonial administrator, and diplomat. In 1510 he was commissioned by the Portuguese court to serve as a " factor of drugs" in India, arriving at Cannanore in 1511. In 1512 he was ...

on his voyage to Java. The strait closed around 1657.Dagh-register gehouden int Casteel Batavia: vant passerende daer ter plaetse als over geheel Nederlandts-India (1656-1657), hlm. 27 via
Sejara Nusantara
' In 1979, the northern side of the mountain was chosen by the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) 'id''as a location for the construction of a

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

, with the understanding that the risk of

earthquakes An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they c ...

and volcanic eruptions was small compared to other parts of Java and

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

. The plant's placement also took into consideration

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

consumption in Central Java. Earthquakes that rocked Mount Muria in the 2010s put an end to the development plan. The mountain last erupted in 160 BCE.

Geology

Mount Muria is associated with the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

subduction zone Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

, not an active subduction zone, with the

Benioff zone Benioff is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * David Benioff (born 1970), American writer, screenwriter and television producer * Hugo Benioff (1899–1968), American seismologist and academic **Wadati–Benioff zone *Marc Benioff ...

approximately 325 km deep. There was, however, still

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

activity in 2000, based on temperature maps of the Muria peninsula. Mount Muria is historically comparable to Mount Genuk 'id'' another volcano on the Muria peninsula, located in Donorojo 'id'' both produce coherent

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

, and have both lava plugs and

domes A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

as well as

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

s at the foot of each volcano and in the surrounding plains. Volcanic

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

s, lapilli and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

can also be found around the mountain, with densities around 2.4g/cm³.

Abandoned nuclear project

From 1976 to 2015 there was a plan to build a nuclear power plant on Mount Muria. Construction was scheduled to begin in 1997 but halted due to the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

. In 2007, construction was scheduled to begin again but was halted by a sudden outbreak of anti-nuclear protests. After the protests continued for several months, the local branch of

Nahdlatul Ulama Nahdlatul Ulama (, , NU) is an Islamic organization in Indonesia. Its membership numbered over 40 million in 2023, making it the largest Islamic organization in the world. NU is also a charitable body funding schools and hospitals as well as or ...

denounced the project to build on the sacred mountain. They declared that the government's plan was ''

haram ''Haram'' (; ) is an Arabic term meaning 'taboo'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowledge; or, in direct cont ...

'' because it would force Indonesia to import foreign uranium, hire foreign experts to manage the plant, and pay the costs to dismantle the plant and store the

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

indefinitely. The national chairman of NU refused to support the local decision, but said that NU would not overrule a finding by a local branch about matters exclusively pertaining to the local branch. Following the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...

, the Indonesian government suspended the project. In 2015 the project was permanently halted after nearly 40 years of planning. Indonesia no longer has active nuclear projects.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links