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50 free Philippine Volcanoes trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Philippines sits on the Ring of Fire with two dozen active volcanoes, and two of them are celebrities. This quiz gathers trivia about Mayon Volcano, the perfect cone that buried Cagsawa in 1814, and trivia about Taal Volcano, the caldera lake with an island that holds a lake that holds an island. Pinatubo's 1991 eruption, the second-largest of the 20th century, gets its due as well. Fifty questions also cover Kanlaon, Bulusan, Hibok-Hibok, Mount Apo, PHIVOLCS alert levels, the tawilis sardine, the Daragang Magayon legend and the 2020 Taal eruption that dusted Metro Manila with ash. Good for Philippine classrooms, quiz nights and anyone planning a Bicol or Tagaytay trip.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Mayon Volcano stands in which Philippine province?
Albay
It is the highest point in the whole Bicol Region and the centrepiece of the Albay Biosphere Reserve declared by UNESCO in 2016.
Q 02Mayon is famous worldwide for which physical feature?
Its near-perfect symmetrical cone
It is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones on Earth and is regarded as sacred in Philippine mythology.
Q 03How tall is Mayon, rising from the shores of Albay Gulf?
2,463 m
That is about 8,081 feet, reached from sea level only about 10 km away.
Q 04In 1938 Mayon and its surroundings became the Philippines' first what?
National park
It was reclassified as the Mayon Volcano Natural Park in 2000 and is now being nominated as a World Heritage Site.
Q 05How many cities and municipalities share Mayon's cone 'like slices of a pie'?
Eight
Legazpi, Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Ligao, Tabaco, Malilipot and Santo Domingo all meet at the summit on the map.
Q 06Mayon's most destructive eruption, in February 1814, buried which town?
Cagsawa
About 1,200 people died; only the church belfry still pokes above the ground at the Cagsawa Ruins in Daraga.
Q 07Roughly how many people died in the town buried by the 1814 eruption?
About 1,200
PHIVOLCS counts it as the deadliest eruption in Mayon's history; its ash may have helped cause 1816's Year Without a Summer.
Q 08The 1814 Mayon eruption is thought to have contributed, with Tambora, to which global event?
The Year Without a Summer
Atmospheric ash from Mayon and Indonesia's Tambora in 1815 chilled 1816 across the Northern Hemisphere.
Q 09In what year was Mayon's first historically recorded eruption?
1616
The first eruption with an extended account was a six-day event in July 1766; it has erupted over 52 times in 500 years.
Q 10Mayon's longest uninterrupted eruption, in 1897, lasted how many days?
Seven
It killed 100 people in Santo Domingo with steam, falling debris and hot rocks.
Q 11Which 2006 typhoon triggered Mayon lahars that killed at least 1,266 people?
Durian
Heavy rain remobilized ash and boulders from the eruption earlier that year on November 30, 2006.
Q 12A 2013 phreatic eruption on Mayon killed five climbers, three of them from which country?
Germany
The others were a Spaniard living in Germany and a Filipino guide; the May 7 blast came without warning.
Q 13According to legend, Mayon is named after which princess-heroine?
Daragang Magayon
Her name means 'Beautiful Lady'; the volcano is said to have grown from the grave of Magayon and her lover Panganoron.
Q 21Taal's greatest recorded eruption, lasting about six months, came in what year?
1754
It ran from May 15 to December 12 and blocked the Pansipit River, cutting the lake's only outlet to the sea.
Q 22Which lakeshore town did Augustinian friars found in 1572, the year of the first recorded eruption?
Taal
The town stood on the lakeshore at what is now San Nicolas; it later moved and is today a heritage town famed for balisong knives.
Q 23Taal's 1965 eruption shifted activity to a new centre called what?
Mount Tabaro
The phreatomagmatic blast sliced off part of the island, and an American geologist recognized 'base surge' there for the first time.
Q 14PHIVOLCS monitors Mayon from a provincial headquarters on which rise near Legazpi?
Ligñon Hill
It sits about 12 km from the summit; Legazpi, south of the volcano, is the Bicol Region's transport hub.
Q 15The ruins of the church buried in 1814 belonged to which religious order?
Franciscans
Rebuilt in 1724, it was destroyed with the town on February 1, 1814, and now sits in a park in Daraga.
Q 16Taal Volcano lies in which province, about 50 km south of Manila?
Batangas
Its northern caldera rim actually sits in Tagaytay, Cavite, which is why that city has the famous views.
Q 17Where have all of Taal's 39 recorded historical eruptions occurred?
On Volcano Island in the lake
The 5-km island covers about 23 square kilometres and is a Permanent Danger Zone where settlement is prohibited.
Q 18Taal Lake sits inside a caldera roughly how wide?
25 to 30 km
Explosive prehistoric eruptions formed it, one of them ejecting an estimated 144 cubic kilometres of material.
Q 19What is Vulcan Point?
A rocky islet inside Taal's crater lake
It makes a famous nesting-doll geography: an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island.
Q 20Taal's Main Crater Lake was created by which eruption?
1911
Before 1911 the crater floor was higher than Taal Lake and held several small lakes of different colours.
Q 24Which cinder cone on Taal, visible from Tagaytay Ridge, erupted in 1707 and 1715?
Binintiang Malaki
Its name means 'Giant Leg'; the smaller Binintiang Munti on the island's western tip had minor eruptions in 1709 and 1729.
Q 25Because of its history and nearby population, Taal was designated a what?
Decade Volcano
The programme singles out volcanoes worth close study to prevent disasters; Taal's recorded death toll is about 6,000.
Q 26Taal Lake's saltwater turned fresh after 1754, producing which endemic sardine?
Tawilis
Sardinella tawilis is the world's only freshwater sardine; the lake also has a freshwater trevally called maliputo.
Q 27Taal Lake is home to one of the world's rarest what, the freshwater Hydrophis semperi?
Sea snakes
It is one of only two true sea snake species known to live entirely in fresh water; bull sharks were wiped out there by the 1930s.
Q 28On what date in 2020 did Taal begin erupting, after 43 quiet years?
January 12
The phreatomagmatic blast sent ash over Calabarzon and Metro Manila and temporarily dried up the Main Crater Lake.
Q 29How high did PHIVOLCS raise Taal’s alert status on the first evening of the 2020 eruption?
Level 4
Level 4 means a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within hours to days; the tephra column reached 10 to 15 km.
Q 30Ashfall from the 2020 Taal eruption reached as far north as which Metro Manila cities?
Quezon City and Caloocan
Frequent volcanic lightning lit the column; Mandaluyong recorded the worst air quality in the metro afterwards.