Timeline of Taal Volcano eruptions

One of the world's "lowest and deadliest" volcanoes, Taal Volcano has been spewing ash and lava and has forced thousands of residents to evacuate since Sunday.

Alert Level 4 is up over the volcano located in Batangas, which means a hazardous eruption is possible within hours to days.

The volcano has not erupted since 1977, a "mild" phreatic event — a steam-driven eruption that occurs when magma heats ground or surface water — that took place decades after a violent eruption killed more than a thousand people.

The Taal erupted 33 times between 1572 and 1977, according to PHIVOLCS.

The types of eruption varied from phreatic, phreatomagmatic (an interaction between magma and water resulting in the ejection of steam and pyroclastic fragments), and strombolian (the ejection of lava from the summit crater), and occurred at different sites in the volcano system.

Here is a timeline of more than four hundred years' worth of the Taal Volcano's eruptions:

1572 - A phreatomagmatic eruption occurs at the main crater.

1591, 1605 to 1611, 1634, 1635 - Each year represents a separate eruption, but only the 1591 activity was identified as a phreatic event.

1641 - Taal Volcano Island is affected by a phreatic eruption that came with tephra fall. Tephra refers to fragments of rocks ejected into the air by an erupting volcano, according to the US Geological Survey. 

1645 - Another eruption occurs at the main crater.

1707 - A phreatic eruption at Binintiang Malaki causes shock waves. 

1709 - A phreatomagmatic eruption occurs at Binintiang Munti.

1715 - Another eruption takes place at Binintiang Malaki.

September 21, 1716 - A violent phreatomagmatic eruption off Calauit (underwater) that comes with tephra fall, base surge (a type of flow of pyroclastic materials like gas and rock fragments), seiches (waves in enclosed bodies of water) kills an undetermined number of people in Taal Volcano Island.

1729 - An eruption occurs at Binintiang Munti.

1731  - An underwater phreatomagmatic eruption at Pira-piraso causes base surge, tephra fall, bombs (large masses of molten rock), and seiches that affect Taal Volcano Island.

1749 - A "very violent" phreatomagmatic eruption with tephra fall, base surges, projectiles, seiches, acid rain, shock waves, and subsidence causes fatalities and destroys properties in Taal Volcano island and the lakeshore towns of Taal, Sala and Tanauan.

May 15, 1754 - The old towns of Sala, Lipa, Tanauan and Talisay are "destroyed" and 12 people are killed by a "very violent" phreatomagmatic eruption that occurs at the main crater.

1790, 1808, 1825, 1842, 1873, 1874, 1878, 1903, 1904 - Separate eruptions occur at the main crater, preceding the devastating eruption of 1911.

January 27 to February 7, 1911 - A phreatic eruption kills 1,335 people. Base surges affect the entire volcano island, Talisay and lakeshore barrios to its west. Ashfall affects the island and surrounding towns.

September 28 to 30, 1965 - The "most famous" phreatomagmatic eruption of 1965 causes tephra fall, projectiles, ashfall, base surge, acid rain, seiches, and shock waves and kills 200 people.

July 5, 1966 - A "moderate" phreatomagmatic eruption at Mt. Tabaro causes tephra fall and projectiles and affects the volcano island.

August 16, 1967 - A "mild" phreatomagmatic explosion at Mt. Tabaro causes tephra fall and projectiles.

January 31, 1968 and October 29, 1969 - Two moderate strombolian eruptions occur at Mt. Tabaro, causing tephra fall and lava flow or fountaining.

September 3, 1970, September 3, 1976, and October 3, 1977 - Mild phreatic eruptions occur at Mt. Tabaro, causing tephra fall. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/KBK, GMA News