Famous Volcanoes in the World (Part 2)
In Part 1, we have just finished the five of the most famous volcanoes in the world. For the continuation of the topic, the other five volcanoes are listed below including the Philippines' pride, Mount Pinatubo.
Eyjafjallajokull
6. Eyjafjallajokull
~ Eyjafjallajökull (English pronunciation: ei-ya-fyat-LA-yer-kitle), English Island Mountain Glacier, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of 1,651 meters. The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the last glacial period, most recently in 2010.[1] Its name is derived from an Icelandic phrase meaning “the island’s mountain glacier,” and the volcano itself lies beneath Eyjafjallajökull (Eyjafjalla Glacier).[2]
Gudmundsson and others (2010a) noted that the last day of sustained activity at Eyjafjallajökull took place on 22 May 2010.[3] xThe Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010 began in January with the onset of clusters of small earthquakes, and by early March the earthquake activity had increased in intensity and frequency. On March 21, fountains of lava began exiting through a 0.3-mile- (500-metre-) long vent. [2]
Mount Pelee
7. Mount Pelee
Mount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava. [4]
When it roared to life in 1902, the mountain produced one of the deadliest eruptions in recorded history, unleashing a cascade of horrors upon the residents of St. Pierre before obliterating the town in one fatal instant. [5] The eruption of Mount Pelee was the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. In less than a minute, the volcano eviscerated the entire city of St. Pierre, the biggest city in the Caribbean island of Martinique. More than 30,000 people died — and only three made it out alive. [6] They are Louis-Auguste Cyparis survived because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell; Léon Compère-Léandre, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns; Havivra Da Ifrile, a young girl, reportedly escaped with injuries during the eruption by taking a small boat to a cave down shore, and was later found adrift 3 km from the island, unconscious. [4]
Thera
8. Thera
~ It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The volcanic arc is approximately 500 km (310 mi) long and 20 to 40 km (12 to 25 mi) wide. The region first became volcanically active around 3–4 million years ago, though volcanism on Thera began around 2 million years ago with the extrusion of dacitic lavas from vents around the Akrotiri. [7]
The island Santorini or Thera is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of meters deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (68 mi) to the south, through a gigantic tsunami. [7] The world map might look differently had the Greek volcano Thera not erupted 3,500 years ago in what geologists believe was the single-most powerful explosive event ever witnessed. Thera didn't just blow a massive hole into the island of Santorini – it set the entire ancient Mediterranean onto a different course.
Nevado del Ruiz
9. Nevado del Ruiz
~ Nevado del Ruiz is an active stratovolcano located on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about 129 kilometers west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano, composed of many layers of lava alternating with hardened volcanic ash and other pyroclastic rocks. The current volcanic cone formed during the present eruptive period, which began 150 thousand years ago. The volcano usually generates Plinian eruptions, which produce swift-moving currents of hot gas and rock called pyroclastic flows.[9]
A relatively small eruption in 1985 of Nevado del Ruiz caused a devastating mud flow that killed almost 25,000 people in the town of Armero, marking one of the worst volcanic disasters in history. [10] Traveling at 50 kilometers per hour, the largest of these burst through an upstream damn on the River Lagunillas and reached Armero two hours after the eruption began. Most of the town was swept away or buried in only a few short minutes, killing three quarters of the townspeople. [11]
Mount Pinatubo
10. Mount Pinatubo
Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcanic caldera in the Zambales Mountains, located on the tripoint boundary of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga, all in Central Luzon on the northern island of Luzon. Its eruptive history was unknown to most before the pre-eruption volcanic activities of 1991, just before June. Pinatubo was heavily eroded, inconspicuous and obscured from view. It was covered with dense forests which supported a population of several thousand indigenous Aetas. [12]
The Cataclysmic 1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines is the second-largest volcanic eruption of this century, and by far the largest eruption to affect a densely populated area, occurred at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines on June 15, 1991. The eruption produced high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas, giant mudflows, and a cloud of volcanic ash hundreds of miles across. The impacts of the eruption continue to this day. [13] The volcano's Ultra Plinian eruption produced the second-largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in the Alaska Peninsula. [12]
Due to the eruption of the volcano, 740 fatalities and an estimated 450 million US Dollars in damage to property, 8,000 houses destroyed and 75,000 damaged. 2 million people were directly affected, mostly by widespread ashfall and damaged crops. A 2.5 km wide caldera was formed at the site of the former summit.The mountain decreased 260 m in height. [14] After the eruptions end, a crater lake was formed which was hot and highly acidic. [15]
References:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull [2] https://www.britannica.com/place/Eyjafjallajokull-volcano [3] https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=372020 [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pel%C3%A9e [5] https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-may-8-1902-deadly-eruption-mount-pelee [6] http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mount-pelee [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini [8] https://www.livescience.com/4846-eruption-thera-changed-world.html [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevado_del_Ruiz [10] https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/nevado_del_ruiz.html [11]http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Nevado.html [12]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo [13]https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1997/fs113-97/ [14]https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/pinatubo/chronology-1991-eruption.html [15]http://www.trekkingpinatubo.com/information.htm
