   thumb|150px|false colour satellite image of soufriÃ¨re hills before and after a 2010 partial dome collapse. red areas are living vegetation, grey areas are covered in volcanic debris the soufriÃ¨re hills volcano is an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit, on the caribbean island of montserrat. after a long period of dormancy, the soufriÃ¨re hills volcano became active in 1995, and has continued to erupt ever since. its eruptions have rendered more than half of montserrat uninhabitable, destroying the capital city, plymouth, and causing widespread evacuations: about two thirds of the population have left the island. the volcano is named for the french word soufriÃ¨re, meaning "sulphur outlet". it is andesitic in nature and the current pattern of activity includes periods of dome growth, punctuated by brief episodes of dome collapse which result in pyroclastic flows, ash venting, and explosive eruption. the volcano is monitored by the montserrat volcano observatory. ==early history== * 2000 bc (+/- 75 years): an explosive eruption formed english's crater. * 1630 ad (+/- 30 years): between 25 and 65 million cubic metres of lava was erupted at castle peak. ==1995&ndash;1999 eruption== seismic activity had occurred in 1897â1898, 1933â1937, and again in 1966â1967, but the eruption that began on 18 july 1995 was the first since the 19th century in montserrat. when [[pyrocla
20th-century_volcanic_events Active_volcanoes Complex_volcanoes Landforms_of_Montserrat Mountains_and_hills_of_British_overseas_territories Stratovolcanoes Volcanoes_of_Montserrat