Musuan Peak or Mount Musuan , also known as Mount Calayo (, literally "Fire Mountain") is an

active volcano An active volcano is a volcano that is currently erupting, or has the potential to erupt in the future. Conventionally it is applied to any that have erupted during the Holocene (the current geologic epoch that began approximately 11,700 years ...

Maramag Maramag, officially the Municipality of Maramag (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Bukidnon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 108,293 people. Hist ...

Bukidnon Bukidnon (), officially the Province of Bukidnon (; ; ; Bukid language, Binukid and Higaonon language, Higaonon: ''Probinsya ta Bukidnon''), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindan ...

, on the island of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

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 ...

. It is south of the city of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, and southeast of

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan de Oro (abbreviated CDO and officially the City of Cagayan de Oro; ; Bukid language, Binukid: ''Ciudad ta Cagayan de Oro''; ; ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Regions of the Philippi ...

Physical characteristics

Musuan is a

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...

and

tuff cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

. It has an elevation of

asl American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employ ...

, and a base diameter of .

Eruptions

The

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS, ; ) is a Philippine national institution dedicated to provide information on the activities of volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis, as well as other specialized information and ...

reports that Musuan erupted in 1866 and 1867, but the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program records another eruption, possibly

phreatic ''Phreatic'' is a term used in hydrology to refer to aquifers, in speleology to refer to cave passages, and in volcanology to refer to a type of volcanic eruption. Hydrology The term phreatic (the word originates from the Greek , meaning "well" ...

, that "burned everything around it." The explosion supposedly occurred four years before the 1891 visit of a Jesuit priest, who reported that he could not examine the volcano more closely because of strong

solfataric A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or another rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcan ...

activity. A strong seismic swarm occurred near Musuan in 1976, and again around mid-2011. Musuan is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines, which are all part of the

Pacific ring of fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. It is about long and up to about wide, and surrounds most of the Pa ...

Flora

Mount Musuan's northern slope is still covered by a

primary rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or ...

. The rest is covered predominantly by Cogon grass (''

Imperata cylindrica ''Imperata cylindrica'' (commonly known as cogongrass or kunai grass ) is a species of Perennial plant, perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and Southern Europe. It has al ...

''). Reforestation efforts on the bare areas, both in tree-planting drives and by Central Mindanao University personnel, have established temporary forests of ''

Acacia mangium ''Acacia mangium'' is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to northeastern Queensland in Australia, the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, Papua, and the eastern Maluku Islands. Common names include blac ...

'' and conifers. There are 524 species of plants in Mount Musuan under 353 genera and 135 families. 301 species are trees, 51 shrubs, 50 grasses and sedges, 46 herbs, 42 vines, 31 ferns, and 3 fern allies. 188 species (35%) are economically important, 128 species (24%) are endemic, and 3 (1%) are endangered species. Musuan peak has approximately 6,354 individual trees. The most common tree species (in density and frequency) are the '' Melanolepis multiglandulosa'' (Kamala tree) and '' Colona serratifolia'', followed by '' Clausena brevistyla'' and ''

Alstonia scholaris ''Alstonia scholaris'', commonly called blackboard tree, scholar tree, milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tree in the oleander and frangipani family Apocynaceae. Its natural range is from Pakistan to China, and south to northe ...

'' (Blackboard tree). Three species of

pteridophytes A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is h ...

are locally threatened: ''

Marsilea crenata ''Marsilea crenata'' is a species of fern found in Southeast Asia. It is an aquatic plant looking like a four leaf clover. Leaves floating in deep water or erect in shallow water or on land. Leaflets glaucous, sporocarp ellipsoid, on stalks a ...

'' ("''apat-apat''"), ''

Ceratopteris thalictroides ''Ceratopteris thalictroides'' is a fern species belonging to the genus '' Ceratopteris'', one of only two genera of the subfamily Parkerioideae of the family Pteridaceae. Common names ''Ceratopteris thalictroides'' is commonly known as water ...

'' ("''pakung-sungay''"), and '' Lycopodiella cernua'' (clubmoss). 10 species of pteridophytes are endemic to the area.

History and infrastructure

According to the legend, Musuan Peak was made out of feces dropped by a man named Tapogak. One day a man named Babaydan and his whole family along with Tapogak bringing his belongings were taken up to heaven. Afterwards, Tapogak found some honey and ate more of it, causing him to defecate from heaven atop. Because of his gluttony, he was kicked out of heaven by his friends, fell down and never reached heaven again. His defecated while in heaven and his feces became a mountain named "Indus ni Tapogak", which means "Tapogak's feces" in Umayamnon language, now known as Musuan Peak. Mount Musuan's lack of any visible crater has led to some local skepticism of it being an active volcano. Still, the imagery evoked by its name variant 'Mount Calayo' (Fire Mountain) and the stories told by Indigenous

people keep people wary of the relatively small mountain which doesn't look like a volcano at all. Valencia City is located North of the peak, the

Central Mindanao University Central Mindanao University (CMU; ) is a research state university located in the heart of Mindanao Island, province of Bukidnon, Philippines. Founded in 1910, it is one of the oldest premier universities in the southern Philippines. CMU is rec ...

(CMU) and Barangay Dologon at the southwest, and the

Pulangi River The Pulangi River ( Cebuano pronunciation IPA uˈlaŋi; (), also spelled Pulangui, is one of the major tributaries of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, an extensive river system in Mindanao, Philippines. With a length of , it is the longest river ...

on the entire eastern side. At the foot of Musuan Peak is the Mount Musuan Zoological and Botanical Garden of the Central Mindanao University. It includes a butterfly greenhouse and a reforestation nursery among its buildings. The

Sayre Highway The Francis Bowes Sayre Sr. Highway or simply the Sayre Highway is a four-to-six lane, , primary national highway that connects Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental to Kabacan, Cotabato. It traverses the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon and ...

and a research center of the Philippine Carabao Center are located on the western slopes. It has a tourist shop which sells dairy products made from

Carabao Carabaos () are a genetically distinct population of swamp-type water buffaloes ('' Bubalus bubalis kerabau'') from the Philippines.FAO 2013''Philippine Carabao/Philippines''In: Domestic Animal Diversity Information System. Food and Agriculture ...

milk. South of the mountain are the university agricultural facilities including a cattle

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

, a

poultry farm Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chick ...

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

s, and a

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

. Due to its proximity to the university and the university town proper, it has become a popular destination for students, teachers, and tourists; either for picnics or a study of the flora and fauna of one of the few remnants of the jungles that once covered the valleys of the surrounding areas.Maramag Things to Do Tips
/ref> From its isolated position in the middle of the valley and the very small surface area of its highest point (only a few meters), the entire countryside is visible from the top. Currently its slopes has been the target of extensive reforestation efforts partly paid for by the establishment of toll gates to hikers intending to go up the mountain.

References

External links