Mayon Volcano " The World's most Perfectly Formed Volcano

Mayon Volcano is an active stratovolcano in the province of Albay, in the Bicol Region, on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. One of the most famous natural wonders in the Philippines.

Renowned as the "perfect cone" because of its almost symmetrically conical shape, Mayon forms the northern boundary of Legazpi City. Local folklore refers to the volcano as Bulkang Magayon (Bikol: 'Beautiful Volcano'), after the legendary heroine Daragang Magayon (Bikol: 'Beautiful Lady').

Mayon Volcano is an active stratovolcano. The current cone was formed through pyroclastic and lava flows from past eruptions. Mayon is the most active of the active volcanoes in the Philippines, having erupted over 49 times in the past 400 years.

Like other volcanoes located around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, Mayon is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is located on the eastern side of Luzon, beside the Philippine Trench which is the convergent boundary where the Philippine Sea Plate is driven under the Philippine Mobile Belt. Where a continental plate or belt of continental fragments meets an oceanic plate, the lighter continental material overrides the oceanic plate, forcing it down into the Earth's mantle. Magma may be forced through weaknesses in the continental crust caused by the collision of the tectonic plates. One such exit point is Mayon.

Mayon has undergone forty-nine eruptions in recorded history. The first recorded major eruption was in 1616. Its 48th and latest major eruption was a quiet effusion of lava on July 14, 2006, which was aggravated when a lahar caused by the rains of Typhoon Durian followed on November 30, 2006. A further summit eruption occurred on August 10, 2008. Starting in January 2011, the volcano is weakly erupting and may be building up to a larger hazardous eruption.

The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Lava flowed but not as much compared to the 1766 eruption. Instead, the volcano was belching dark ash and eventually bombarding the town with tephra that buried the town of Cagsawa.