Mount Parker (Cotabato)

Mount Parker
Location of Mount Parker in the Philippines
Elevation	1,824 m (5,984 ft) [3]
Location
Location	Philippines
Coordinates	6°06′48″N 124°53′30″E / 6.11333°N 124.89167°E / 6.11333; 124.89167Coordinates: 6°06′48″N 124°53′30″E / 6.11333°N 124.89167°E / 6.11333; 124.89167[1]
Geology
Type	Stratovolcano
Last eruption	1641 [1]

Mount Parker, locally known as Melibengoy, is a stratovolcano on Mindanao island in the Philippines (6°06.8' N, 124°53.5' E). It is located in the province of South Cotabato, 30 kilometers west of General Santos City and 44 kilometers south of Koronadal City.

The volcano's English name is taken from an American General, General Frank Parker, who spotted the mountain and claimed to have "discovered" it during a flight he piloted in 1934. General Parker led an expedition up to the lake in the mountain's crater with other US colonial and Filipino government officials, including Vice-Governor-General Joseph Ralston Hayden and Provincial Governor Gutierrez, in the fall of 1934.^[4]

Physical features

The elevation is given as 1,784 meters by some sources and as 1,824 meters by others.^[3] The volcano has an elevation of and a base diameter of 40 km. It has a 2.9-km-wide caldera with steep walls that rise 200-500m above the crater lake that is now called Lake Maughan. The lake, which is officially called Lake Holon, was named after another American who was with Parker when he crashed.

Melibengoy is considered one of the sacred places of the T'boli tribe. It hosts a rare species, Parantica dannatti reyesi, which was discovered by the late Professor Josue de los Reyes of Notre Dame of Marbel University and published in the Entomological Journal of Senckerburg Research Institute in December 1994.

Government officials have also confirmed sightings of the Philippine Tarsier, Tarsius syrichta which can supposedly be found in the barangays surrounding Lake Holon.

Eruptions

Mount Parker is believed to have erupted thrice over the past 3,800 years, the last one on January 4, 1641. The 1641 eruption caused the formation of the crater lake.

On September 6, 1995, local officials reported what they believed was volcanic activity at Lake Maughan. The alleged activity caused landslides and floodings along Ga-o River which drains Lake Maughan and joins Allah River in the north. Due to this phenomenon, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology installed monitoring equipment which established that the so-called activity was man-made.

Less than a year after the 1995 activity, a temporary dam was formed at about 250 m from the outlet of Lake Maughan, alarming the residents within the area due to fear of flashfloods. The deposited debris dammed the flowing Ga-o River and caused the lake level to rise by about 6 meters.

See also

• Active volcanos in the Philippines
• Potentially active volcanos in the Philippines
• Inactive volcanos in the Philippines
• Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
• Volcano

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Parker". Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0701-011. 
2. ^ Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) Parker Volcano Page
3. ^ ^{a b} This article uses the 1,824 m elevation figure given by the Global Volcanism Program.^[1] The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) website gives the elevation as 1,784 m.^[2]
4. ^ J. R. Hayden to Captain C. Morera, Sept. 4, 1934 AND Hayden to Gov. Gutierrez, January 15, 1935, Joseph Ralston Hayden Papers, Box 27, Folder 32, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.