Mount Mariveles 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 ...

and the highest point in the province of Bataan in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Mariveles and the adjacent Mount Natib comprise 80.9 percent of the total land area of the province.Redpen (2008-01-24). . MyBataan.com. Retrieved on 2011-09-15. The mountain and adjacent cones lie opposite the city of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

across

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

, providing a beautiful setting for the

sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

s seen from the city.

Location

Mount Mariveles lies at the southern end of the

Zambales Mountains The Zambales Mountains is a mountain range in western Luzon. The mountains spread along a north-south axis, separating Luzon's central plain from the South China Sea. The range extends into five Provinces of the Philippines, provinces: Zambales, ...

in the

Bataan Peninsula Bataan (, , , ; ) , officially the Province of Bataan, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga, Bataan, Balanga while Mariveles, ...

, west of

. Bataan province belongs to the Central Luzon (Region III), of the Philippines.

Physical features

Mount Mariveles is a massive

topped with a summit caldera which drains to the north. The highest peak, called Mariveles, has an elevation of asl. Mounts Pantingan, Bataan, Tarak, and Vintana are the other peaks of the volcano-caldera complex, which has a base diameter of . Mount Samat on the northern slope, and Mount Limay on the eastern slope, are major, youthful-looking parasitic cones of the volcano. Mariveles is still thermally active with the following

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s located within the complex: Tiis Spring, Saysain Spring, and Pucot Spring.

Eruptions

There are no recorded historical eruptions from Mariveles caldera. However, geologists report the last active eruption indicated by

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

occurring around mid-

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

or about 2050 BCE.

Geology

Rock type is predominantly biotite,

hornblende Hornblende is a complex silicate minerals#Inosilicates, inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common ...

, and

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

, with dacite flows and dacitic tuffs similar to nearby Mount Natib. Mount Mariveles is on the Western Bataan Lineament volcanic belt of Luzon, which includes

Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains in Luzon in the Philippines. Located on the tripoint of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces, most people were unaware of its eruptive history before the pre-eruption volc ...

, site of the second largest eruption of the last 20th century.

Listings

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the Philippine government branch that deals with volcanology in the country, lists Mariveles as a potentially active volcano for the age of its last eruption and active thermal features.

Climbing Mariveles

There are already three peaks familiar to the local mountaineering community, namely Tarak Ridge, Pantingan or Banayan Peak, and Mariveles Ridge. The rest of the peaks in the caldera are still waiting to be explored. Tarak Ridge is the more well-known destination on Mount Mariveles, with its jump-off point situated at Barangay Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan."Tarak Ridge"
Pinoy Mountaineer. Retrieved on 2012-02-21. Pantingan Peak (locally called Banayan Peak) can be accessed through Sitio Duhat, Saysain, Bagac, Bataan. Mariveles Ridge can be accessed through Sitio Parca, Mariveles, Bataan.

References

External links

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), Mariveles page (archived)
* * from MyBataan

from Pinoy Mountaineer {{DEFAULTSORT:Mariveles Stratovolcanoes of the Philippines Subduction volcanoes Volcanoes of Luzon Mountains of the Philippines Landforms of Bataan Potentially active volcanoes of the Philippines Pliocene stratovolcanoes Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Zambales Mountains