The Philippine volcano located in a lake that had a major eruption in 2020 was Taal Volcano. It rises from Volcano Island within Taal Lake in Batangas, south of Manila.
Taal is part of a large volcanic complex rather than a single simple cone. Its main crater contains a crater lake, and the island itself sits inside the much larger lake formed by an ancient caldera. This unusual arrangement makes Taal one of the world’s most distinctive volcanic landscapes.
On January 12, 2020, Taal began a phreatomagmatic eruption, in which rising magma interacted explosively with water. Ash spread across Batangas and Metro Manila, flights were disrupted, and large-scale evacuations followed. The eruption also temporarily drained the Main Crater Lake and altered the appearance of Vulcan Point.
A common mix-up is confusing Taal with Mount Pinatubo, another famous Philippine volcano. Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption was far larger globally, but it is not the volcano located in Taal Lake.