Three Major Volcanic Eruptions Ever Recorded in History
February 27, 20101. Mt. Etna.
Way back in 1500 BC, Mt Etna erupted about 200 times. The most notorios and violent eruption was on 1669 of March, the lava flows and cut a smoldering gash out of two mountain villages. Multiple eruptions over the next few weeks killed more than 17,000 people and 27,000 left homeless.
The molten rocks spread rapidly for days and ruined Nicolosi and 16 villages, including Belpasso, S. Pietro Clarenza, Camporotondo, Mascalucia and Misterbianco. Part of S. Giovanni Galermo was slightly affected. The notorious and voluminous molten rocks and lava flows to city walls of Catania and the western side of the city, till it reached to the sea.
In later years, the major eruptions occurred in 1853 and 1928.
Mt. Etna is found on the Italian island of Sicily. It is also known as Mongibeddu among Sicilian, a corruption of the Latin and Arabic words for "mountain" .
It stand at 11,000 feet above the sea in the northeast section of Sicily. It is Europe's largest volcano and the most active volcanoe in the world.
2. Mt. Tambora.
Mt. Tambora is an active stratovolcano on Sumbawa island, Indonesia. It lies 340 km (211 mi) north of the Java Trench system and 180-190 km (112-118 mi) above the upper surface of the active north-dipping subduction zone. On April 5, 1815, Mt. Tambora erupted and considered as the largest eruption ever recorded in history, it darkened the sky at noon with ash from numerous explosions. A powerful and gigantic blast was estimated to be equivalent of all the nuclear stockpiles during the 1980's. Prior to eruption, volcanologist and scientist had indicated that Tambora had been doormant for 5,000 years, magma stored up in the chamber and this build up had reach its limit in 1815. The eruption almost consumed the whole sky and sent an ash plume 15 miles into the air, which lasted for two hours. It ejected sulphur-rich gases that rose to a height of 28 miles and creates a giant sun fliter in the northern hemisphere that caused the spring and summer of 1816 to be extremely cold across Europe and North America. (Source: History Magazine) After April 15th explosion of the same year, five days after, April 10th the same eruption took place, which caused the collapse of the eruption column. Pyroclastic flows down the slope wiped out the villages of Sanggar and Tambora and lasted for three hours.
In the year of 1816 was the year without summer when Mt. Tambora (Tomboro) erupted and considered as one of the most explosive and massive volcanic eruptions in history. The after effect or eruptions had adverse effect of weather in 1816, paricularly in North America, Europe and Asia.
An estimated 83, 000 people died on the nearby islands and about 90,000 people died from the volcanoe's wider effects.
3. Mt. Pelee.
In April - May 1902, Mt. Pelee erupted and killed 30,121 people. It is located near the city of Pierre, Martinque, in the west side of Carrebean Island. It is now famous for its destructive eruption in 1902 and dubbed as the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century.
During the eruption, a burning cloud of hot ash and gases swept into the town at a speed of 100 miles per hour. The mountain was torn into pieces without warning. A solid wall of flame flowed toward the city, which sounded like a thousand huge and gigantic canon. The flood fire was all over the mountain that flows rapidly like a hurricane hit the town.
There were two survivors in the city. One man who had an underground jail cell and a sailor who were off-shore.
Posted by Mys Lyke Meeh. Posted In : Volcano
On March 4, 2009 at 2:24 am
The oarfish looks scary! Enjoyable article, I didn’t realise any fish could ‘walk’ either, thanks for the research.