India's only active volcano located on the uninhabited Barren Island in Andaman Sea erupted on Sept 20, presenting a visual extravaganza rare for south Asia. The episode was in fact the result of an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 that hit the region two days before the event. Though the eruption was minor with no immediate risk to human settlements in Indonesian archipelago, the episode - fourth since 1991 - can't be overlooked as the island lies over a fault that moved, causing the Dec 2004 tsunami. The fault's coordinates fall on the same latitude as the Barren Island volcano and in the vicinity of the longitude of the quake that made the magma chamber apt for "pre-mature magmatic eruption", said O P Mishra, director, National Centre for Seismology. Such episodic volcanic eruption

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