OUR FIERY MOUNTAINS
Throughout history there has been some deadly volcano eruptions. The destruction of Pompeii is one of the most well-known because of the number of movies that have been made about it. Pompeii happened thousands of years ago but recently, in my life-time, the huge cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano in 2010 caused chaos for thousands of travellers and cost the airline industry millions of pounds.
Mount Vesuvius
Mt. Vesuvius, the active volcano that looms over the Bay of Naples in southern Italy, has erupted well over 30 times that we know of. And yet its most famous eruption took place all the way back in A.D. 79, when a multiday eruption of lava and ash covered the cities of Pompeii and Stabiae in ash. Pliny the Younger, author of the only surviving eyewitness account, described a sudden explosion followed by blankets of ash that fell on people as they tried to escape. The total number of Vesuvius' victims will most likely never be known, but archeologists are aware of at least 1,000. |
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Krakatoa
In 1883, the volcano on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa erupted with 13,000 times the power of an atomic bomb. The sound of the spewing smoke and rock was reportedly heard thousands of miles away, as far as islands off the eastern coast of Africa. Hundreds in a nearby Sumatran town died almost instantly when flaming ash incinerated their homes, and many more were washed away by subsequent mega-tsunamis. An estimated 36,000 or so perished in total. Krakatoa itself then slumped into the boiling depths of the ocean, but a new island at the site was spotted in 1927, and it still occasionally spits lava into the sky. It's been dubbed Anak Krakatoa, or Child of Krakatoa.
In 1883, the volcano on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa erupted with 13,000 times the power of an atomic bomb. The sound of the spewing smoke and rock was reportedly heard thousands of miles away, as far as islands off the eastern coast of Africa. Hundreds in a nearby Sumatran town died almost instantly when flaming ash incinerated their homes, and many more were washed away by subsequent mega-tsunamis. An estimated 36,000 or so perished in total. Krakatoa itself then slumped into the boiling depths of the ocean, but a new island at the site was spotted in 1927, and it still occasionally spits lava into the sky. It's been dubbed Anak Krakatoa, or Child of Krakatoa.
Mount Tambora
The Volcanic Explosivity Index goes up to 8. On that scale, the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora rates a very destructive 7. The explosion took place on the island of Sumbawa (then in the Dutch East Indies, now in Indonesia) and plunged the region into darkness, but its effects were anything but isolated. Tens of thousands of people were killed by the apocalyptic eruption, subsequent tsunamis and ensuing starvation and disease. The largest volcanic eruption in recorded history changed the world's climate so much (even crops in Europe and North America failed) that 1816 became known as "the year without a summer." Tambora itself shrank several thousand feet and traded its peak for a massive crater at its summit.
The Volcanic Explosivity Index goes up to 8. On that scale, the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora rates a very destructive 7. The explosion took place on the island of Sumbawa (then in the Dutch East Indies, now in Indonesia) and plunged the region into darkness, but its effects were anything but isolated. Tens of thousands of people were killed by the apocalyptic eruption, subsequent tsunamis and ensuing starvation and disease. The largest volcanic eruption in recorded history changed the world's climate so much (even crops in Europe and North America failed) that 1816 became known as "the year without a summer." Tambora itself shrank several thousand feet and traded its peak for a massive crater at its summit.
Mauna Loa
It's fitting that the state created out of a chain of volcanic islands would be home to the world's largest volcano. Mauna Loa is located on the Big Island of Hawaii and in addition to being the largest, with a summit nearly 13,700 feet high, it is also one of the world's most active. Since 1843, Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times, most recently in 1984. At 60 miles long and 30 miles wide, Mauna Loa, the name of which fittingly means "Long Mountain" in Hawaiian, takes up about half of the Big Island. Its mass also amounts to 85% of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.
It's fitting that the state created out of a chain of volcanic islands would be home to the world's largest volcano. Mauna Loa is located on the Big Island of Hawaii and in addition to being the largest, with a summit nearly 13,700 feet high, it is also one of the world's most active. Since 1843, Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times, most recently in 1984. At 60 miles long and 30 miles wide, Mauna Loa, the name of which fittingly means "Long Mountain" in Hawaiian, takes up about half of the Big Island. Its mass also amounts to 85% of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.
Eyjafjallajokull
It was like an overly contrived disaster movie: A mammoth cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano creeps across the European continent, shutting down airports and stranding hundreds of thousands for days. Across the globe, people curse the volcano — or attempt to, since few can actually pronounce the name Eyjafjallajokull! And despite all our technological prowess, human ingenuity is shown to be futile in the face of an ash plume.
Eyjafjallajokull, whose name means "Island Mountain Glacier" in Icelandic, first erupted 20 March 2010. But it was the eruption that began April 14 that wrought all the havoc, ultimately costing the airline industry more than $1 billion.
It was like an overly contrived disaster movie: A mammoth cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano creeps across the European continent, shutting down airports and stranding hundreds of thousands for days. Across the globe, people curse the volcano — or attempt to, since few can actually pronounce the name Eyjafjallajokull! And despite all our technological prowess, human ingenuity is shown to be futile in the face of an ash plume.
Eyjafjallajokull, whose name means "Island Mountain Glacier" in Icelandic, first erupted 20 March 2010. But it was the eruption that began April 14 that wrought all the havoc, ultimately costing the airline industry more than $1 billion.
Sourced from TIME magazine website.