95 Fun Facts About Volcano Disasters

In what year did Mount Vesuvius bury the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash?

Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and sealed Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and pumice, which is why the two Roman cities survived so well for centuries.

Which 1883 volcanic eruption produced the loudest sound ever recorded, heard thousands of miles away?

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia generated an immense sound wave, estimated to be 310 dB, which reportedly traveled around the world multiple times and was heard as far as 3,000 miles away.

Which Washington state volcano erupted in 1980 with a massive lateral blast?

Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption was unique for its lateral blast, triggered by a landslide that uncorked the mountain, sending debris sideways before a vertical eruption column formed.

What global climate event was largely attributed to the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora?

The immense amount of ash and aerosols injected into the atmosphere by the 1815 Tambora eruption caused global temperatures to drop, leading to widespread crop failures and the 'Year Without a Summer' in 1816.

Mudflows from which Colombian volcano buried the town of Armero in November 1985?

Nevado del Ruiz's 13 November 1985 eruption melted summit ice, sending lahars down river valleys into Armero, a town hazard maps had already marked at risk; more than 20,000 of its 29,000 residents died.

What temporary effect did Mount Pinatubo's 1991 eruption have on the planet's climate?

Mount Pinatubo's 1991 eruption injected a large amount of gas into the stratosphere, which converted into sulfate aerosols and reflected sunlight, causing a temporary global cooling of about 0.5 °C.

The c.1600 BC eruption of Thera buried Akrotiri, a settlement of which Bronze Age civilization?

Akrotiri was a Minoan settlement on Thera (Santorini); its ash-preserved frescoes and multi-storey houses earned it the name the Aegean Pompeii, and the Minoan heartland lay on Crete.

What is the fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic debris that races along the ground from an erupting volcano called?

A pyroclastic flow can reach temperatures of up to 1,000 °C; these ground-hugging currents are what destroyed Pompeii and Saint-Pierre.

What is the collective term for all fragmented material ejected in an explosive volcanic eruption?

Tephra is a general term encompassing all airborne volcanic fragments, from fine ash to large blocks, ejected during an explosive eruption.

Which light-colored, highly porous volcanic rock often floats on water?

Pumice forms during explosive eruptions when super-heated, gas-rich magma cools rapidly, trapping gas bubbles and resulting in a very light, porous rock that can float on water.

Which eruption type produces the most explosive, sustained ash columns, reaching tens of kilometres high?

Plinian eruptions are highly explosive and produce towering eruption columns, named after Pliny the Younger, who described the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius.

In 1902 the city of Saint-Pierre on Martinique was wiped out within minutes by which volcano?

Mount Pelée's 8 May 1902 pyroclastic surge swept through Saint-Pierre, killing about 28,000 people; one of the few survivors, prisoner Ludger Sylbaris, was shielded by his thick-walled cell.

What chronic lung disease is the main long-term concern from inhaling fine volcanic ash?

Acute symptoms like bronchitis are common after ashfall, but long-term exposure to fine volcanic ash, especially ash high in crystalline silica, raises concern about silicosis, a chronic lung disease.

What is the name for a linear volcanic vent, metres wide but kilometres long, that pours out lava with little explosion?

Iceland's Laki craters and Kīlauea's East Rift Zone are classic examples; the flows can feed vast flood basalts before activity focuses on a few spatter cones.

The 1783 Laki eruption, which caused widespread famine and climate impacts, occurred in which country?

The Laki eruption in Iceland in 1783-1784 was a massive fissure eruption that released enormous amounts of sulfur dioxide, leading to a 'fog famine' in Iceland and significant climate disturbances across Europe and North America.

What basin-shaped depression forms when a magma chamber's roof collapses after an eruption?

A caldera is a large, cauldron-like hollow that forms when the ground collapses inward following a powerful volcanic eruption, often after the magma chamber below has been largely emptied.

The 'Ring of Fire', a zone of frequent earthquakes and eruptions, encircles which ocean?

The Pacific Ring of Fire is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur, home to over 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.

What volcanic type has a broad, gently sloping cone built from fluid basaltic lava?

Shield volcanoes are typically very large and have gentle slopes, formed by highly fluid, low-viscosity lava flows that spread out over great distances.

Which Tanzanian volcano is the only one known to erupt cool, white-weathering natrocarbonatite lava?

Ol Doinyo Lengai's natrocarbonatite lava emerges at only about 540–590 °C, roughly half the temperature of basalt, barely glows, and weathers white within days.

A release of which gas from Cameroon's Lake Nyos suffocated over 1,700 people in 1986?

The Lake Nyos disaster was a limnic eruption, where a sudden overturn of deep lake water released a massive cloud of carbon dioxide, which flowed down the valleys and caused widespread asphyxiation.

Which active volcano southeast of Mexico City, nicknamed 'Don Goyo', frequently emits steam and ash?

Popocatépetl, 'smoking mountain' in Nahuatl, is Mexico's second-highest peak and has erupted repeatedly since reawakening in December 1994; locals nicknamed it Don Goyo after Saint Gregory.

What are large, angular fragments of solid rock ejected in an explosive volcanic eruption called?

Volcanic blocks are rock fragments larger than 64 mm in diameter that are ejected as solid pieces during an eruption.

Katia and Maurice Krafft were killed in a 1991 eruption of which Japanese volcano?

Mount Unzen's 3 June 1991 pyroclastic flow killed 43 people, including the Kraffts and American volcanologist Harry Glicken; the Kraffts' footage later became the basis of the documentary Fire of Love.

In 1982 a BA 747 lost all four engines in the ash cloud of which Indonesian volcano?

British Airways Flight 9 flew into Galunggung's ash cloud on 24 June 1982; the crew glided the 747 from 37,000 to about 13,500 feet before the engines restarted, and Captain Eric Moody's 'small problem' announcement became aviation legend.

What is the name for molten rock that is still underground, before it erupts to the surface?

Magma is the molten rock found beneath the Earth's surface, which becomes lava once it erupts.

Which volcanic gas causes acid rain and forms 'vog' (volcanic smog) with atmospheric moisture?

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emitted from volcanoes reacts with water and other atmospheric components to form sulfate aerosols, contributing to acid rain and volcanic smog (vog), which can cause respiratory issues.

In what country would you find Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes?

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

Which Sumatran eruption about 74,000 years ago is believed to have caused a 'volcanic winter'?

The theory that the resulting volcanic winter squeezed humanity through a genetic bottleneck is now disputed by some researchers, but the caldera it left is the largest volcanic lake on Earth.

Which branch of geology studies eruptions, magma and lava flows?

Volcanology is the branch of geology concerned with the study of volcanoes, including their formation, activity, and hazards.

Which volcano's April 2010 ash cloud shut most of Europe's airspace for six days?

Eyjafjallajökull's April 2010 eruption sent fine ash across Europe; about 20 countries closed their airspace from 15 to 21 April, stranding some 10 million travellers in the largest air-travel disruption since the Second World War.

What is the term for a concrete-like flow of water and volcanic debris down a volcano's slopes?

A lahar is a destructive mudflow or landslide composed of pyroclastic material and water, often originating from volcanic activity, such as melted snow and ice mixed with ash.

Which volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo is notable for its persistent lava lake?

Mount Nyiragongo, located in the Virunga Mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is famous for its large, active lava lake, which is one of the largest and most voluminous in the world.

What steep, cone-shaped volcano type is built from alternating layers of lava and fragmented debris?

Stratovolcanoes, also known as composite volcanoes, are characterized by their conical shape and steep slopes, formed by alternating layers of viscous lava flows and pyroclastic material.

Which 1912 Alaskan eruption was the 20th century's largest by volume of material erupted?

The 1912 eruption of Novarupta (part of the Katmai complex) in Alaska was the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, producing a massive pyroclastic flow and ashfall.

What is the term for large molten rock fragments that solidify into aerodynamic shapes in flight?

Volcanic bombs are molten or semi-molten rock fragments, typically larger than 64 mm, that are ejected from a volcano and cool into characteristic aerodynamic shapes as they fly through the air.

Which Hawaiian volcano is known for frequent effusive eruptions and long-lived lava lakes?

Kīlauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, famous for its nearly continuous, effusive eruptions and long-lived lava lakes within its caldera.

Which instrument records the slight ground deformation of a volcano's flanks as magma swells beneath it?

A tiltmeter records minute changes in slope as magma inflates a volcano; before the 1980 eruption the north flank of Mount St. Helens bulged outward by about 1.5 metres a day.

The eruption of Mount Agung in 1963 caused significant devastation on which Indonesian island?

Mount Agung on Bali erupted from February 1963 into early 1964; pyroclastic flows and lahars killed roughly 1,100 to 1,500 people, and its ash cloud briefly cooled the global climate.

The Deccan Traps, flood basalts erupted 66 million years ago, cover much of which country?

The Deccan Traps cover about 500,000 km² of west-central India; their eruptions roughly coincided with the dinosaur extinction, though the Chicxulub impact is regarded as the primary cause.

What is the term for fine fragmented volcanic rock (under 2 mm) that wind can carry long distances?

Volcanic ash consists of very fine particles of rock, mineral, and volcanic glass, typically less than 2 mm in diameter, which can be widely dispersed by wind after an eruption.

The Valles Caldera, a prominent example of a resurgent caldera, is located in which U.S. state?

The Valles Caldera, in New Mexico's Jemez Mountains, is a 22-km-wide bowl that formed about 1.25 million years ago and is protected as Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Which type of lava flow is characterized by a smooth, ropy, or billowy surface?

Pahoehoe lava flows are distinguished by their smooth, sometimes rope-like surfaces, forming as highly fluid lava cools and solidifies.

Where is Mount Erebus, a volcano with a long-lived lava lake?

Mount Erebus, Earth's southernmost active volcano, rises 3,794 m on Ross Island, Antarctica; its persistent lava lake, observed since 1972, is one of only a handful on the planet.

How fast do ground-hugging currents of hot gas and debris from an explosive eruption travel?

They average around 100 km/h and can reach 700 km/h, so they cannot be outrun; their heat kills as surely as their force.

Which eruption type features mild, rhythmic explosions ejecting incandescent lava fragments?

Strombolian eruptions are mild, rhythmic bursts that toss glowing cinders, bombs and lava fragments from low-viscosity basaltic magma; they are named after Stromboli, the Italian island volcano known as the 'lighthouse of the Mediterranean'.

El Chichón, whose 1982 eruption destroyed nine villages and killed about 1,900, lies in which Mexican state?

El Chichón, in Mexico's Chiapas state, had been so quiet it was not mapped as a hazard before its March–April 1982 eruption; its sulfur cloud circled the globe in about three weeks.

How many people were killed by the 18 May 1980 eruption of St. Helens in Washington?

The 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens killed 57 people, most by asphyxiation in the lateral blast and ash; among them was USGS geologist David Johnston, posted on a ridge six miles from the summit.

Lodge owner Harry R. Truman refused to leave his home beside which body of water in 1980?

Truman's Spirit Lake Lodge was buried under about 150 feet of debris by the landslide that opened the 1980 eruption; the avalanche raised Spirit Lake's surface by roughly 200 feet.

David Johnston's final radio call on 18 May 1980 began by shouting which city's name?

He was radioing the USGS office in Vancouver, Washington. His body was never found, though highway workers turned up remnants of his trailer in 1993.

How many cats died alongside lodge owner Harry Truman in the 1980 eruption?

Truman mentioned the cats in nearly every public statement and treated them as family. Death is thought to have come from heat shock in under a second.

By roughly how much did the 1980 eruption lower the summit of St. Helens?

The 1980 landslide lowered the summit of Mount St. Helens from 9,677 to 8,363 feet, about 1,300 feet, and left a horseshoe-shaped crater a mile wide, two miles long and 2,100 feet deep, open to the north.

Jailed Ludger Sylbaris survived Saint-Pierre's 1902 blast, then toured with which circus?

Sylbaris, nicknamed Cyparis, survived in Saint-Pierre's thick-walled jail cell and from 1903 toured with the Barnum & Bailey Circus, billed as 'the man who lived through Doomsday'.

What unusual feature rose about 300 m above Mount Pelée's summit dome in 1902–03?

After the 1902 eruption a spine of solidified lava, the Tower of Pelée, was squeezed up from the summit dome, reaching about 300 m before crumbling in 1903.

The 1883 Sunda Strait explosion was heard on Rodrigues, an island belonging to which nation?

Rodrigues, an outer island of Mauritius, lies about 4,800 km from Krakatoa; listeners there assumed the booms were cannon fire from a ship offshore.

Anak Krakatau, the new cone inside the 1883 caldera, first emerged in which year?

It surfaced on 29 December 1927 and was washed away several times before permanently rising above the sea in August 1930. Its name means 'child of Krakatoa'.

A December 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami struck a beach concert by which Indonesian pop band?

The Indonesian band Seventeen was playing at Tanjung Lesung beach on 22 December 2018 when a tsunami from Anak Krakatau's flank collapse swept the stage; several band members and crew died, and the wave killed more than 400 people.

Tambora, whose 1815 eruption was the most powerful in recorded history, is on which island?

Tambora stands on Sumbawa in Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands; tens of thousands on Sumbawa and neighbouring Lombok starved or died of disease after the April 1815 eruption.

Tambora's 1815 eruption is the most recent confirmed event at which VEI level?

Tambora 1815 is the most recent VEI-7 eruption, ejecting roughly 37 to 45 cubic kilometres of dense-rock-equivalent magma and dwarfing every eruption since.

Kept indoors by the rain-soaked summer of 1816, Mary Shelley began which novel?

Frankenstein grew out of Lord Byron's ghost-story contest at Villa Diodati in the wet summer of 1816; Byron's own 'A Fragment' was later reworked by Polidori into The Vampyre.

Which trapped young girl became the face of the 1985 Armero tragedy in a famous photograph?

Omayra Sánchez, 13, was trapped for nearly three days in the debris of her home; Frank Fournier's photograph of her won the 1985 World Press Photo of the Year, and rescuers lacked the pumps to free her legs.

Which typhoon struck Luzon on the day of Pinatubo's 1991 climactic eruption, soaking the ash?

Typhoon Yunya crossed Luzon on 15 June 1991, the same day as Pinatubo's climactic blast; its rain turned the falling ash into a heavy wet slurry that spread far beyond the volcano.

Pinatubo's 1991 eruption forced the United States to abandon which installation?

Clark Air Base, about 15 km east of Pinatubo, was evacuated days before the eruption and buried in ash; the US handed it over in November 1991, and Subic Bay followed in 1992 when lease talks collapsed.

Which indigenous people living on Pinatubo's slopes were displaced by the 1991 eruption?

The Aeta, indigenous hunter-gatherers of the Zambales mountains, had lived on Pinatubo's slopes for centuries; the 1991 eruption buried their villages in ash and forced them into lowland resettlement camps.

The Soufrière Hills volcano destroyed Plymouth, the capital of which Caribbean island, from 1995?

Soufrière Hills on Montserrat began erupting in July 1995; pyroclastic flows buried Plymouth by 1997, more than half the island became an exclusion zone, and activity continued until 2010.

After Plymouth was abandoned in 1997, which settlement became the island's de facto capital?

Government offices moved to Brades in the north-west after Plymouth was abandoned in 1997; Plymouth stayed the de jure capital while a new town was planned at Little Bay.

Most victims of New Zealand's 2019 Whakaari eruption were on a shore excursion from which ship?

Thirty-eight of the 47 people on Whakaari on 9 December 2019 were passengers from Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas; 22 people ultimately died.

Experts classified the 2019 Whakaari / White Island blast as which type of eruption?

Phreatic eruptions are steam-driven explosions in which heated groundwater flashes to vapour without fresh magma reaching the surface, which is why the 2019 Whakaari blast came with so little warning.

How many people died when Japan's Mount Ontake erupted without warning on 27 September 2014?

Mount Ontake's 27 September 2014 phreatic eruption killed 63 hikers (58 confirmed dead and five missing) on the popular beginner-friendly peak at lunchtime, Japan's deadliest eruption since Torishima in 1902.

The 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption column rose about 58 km, into which layer of the atmosphere?

Hunga Tonga's 15 January 2022 plume topped 57 km, past the 50-km ceiling of the stratosphere into the mesosphere, the tallest ever recorded by satellite; it injected water vapour equal to about a tenth of the stratosphere's usual stock.

After the January 2022 Hunga Tonga blast, Tonga was largely cut off because what was damaged?

The fault lay 37 km from Nukuʻalofa, and repair crews could not reach it until volcanic activity eased.

The 85-day Cumbre Vieja eruption of 2021 took place on which Canary Island?

Cumbre Vieja on La Palma erupted from 19 September to 13 December 2021, the longest known eruption on the island; lava destroyed about 3,000 buildings and swathes of banana plantations.

Which town of about 1,200 people was completely destroyed by lava in the 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption?

Lava reached Todoque, in Los Llanos de Aridane, within days of the 19 September 2021 outbreak and erased it entirely, including its church; later flows went on to damage La Laguna.

Guatemala's deadly June 2018 Fuego eruption hit which village hardest?

Pyroclastic flows on 3 June 2018 buried San Miguel Los Lotes, near Escuintla, in ash and rock; the official toll was at least 190 dead with more than 250 missing, though locals believe more lie beneath the deposits.

Which lava dome, growing since 1922, sits in the crater left by Santa María's 1902 eruption?

Santiaguito has been extruding lava domes in Santa María's 1902 crater since 1922; a dome collapse in 1929 killed hundreds, and the 1902 blast itself killed an estimated 5,000 to 8,700 people.

Galeras, whose 1993 eruption killed six scientists sampling gases in its crater, is in which country?

Galeras overlooks Pasto in south-west Colombia and is regarded as the country's most active volcano; the six scientists killed on 14 January 1993 were on a field trip during a volcanology conference.

Mount Lamington, whose 1951 eruption killed about 3,000, is in which country?

Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea's Oro Province had not been recognised as a volcano until its 21 January 1951 blast killed about 3,000; it is named after Lord Lamington, a former Governor of Queensland.

A lahar from which volcano destroyed a rail bridge at Tangiwai in 1953, killing 151 people?

Ruapehu's Crater Lake broke through a tephra dam on 24 December 1953, sending a lahar that swept away the Tangiwai rail bridge minutes before the Wellington–Auckland express arrived, killing 151 in New Zealand's worst rail disaster.

Kelud's 1919 eruption in Java killed about 5,000 people, mostly through what?

Water from the summit crater lake turned the slopes into rivers of hot mud. Tunnels were later dug to lower the lake and reduce the hazard.

How did Heimaey islanders protect their harbour from Eldfell's advancing lava in 1973?

The eruption had begun without warning on 23 January, and the harbour was the heart of Iceland's most important fishing port.

Parícutin erupted in 1943 from a cornfield owned by which farmer?

Farmer Dionisio Pulido watched the vent open in his cornfield near Uruapan, Michoacán, on 20 February 1943; the cone kept erupting until 1952, unusually long for a cinder cone, and buried the villages of Parícutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro.

Taal Volcano, with its 1911-formed crater lake, lies about 50 km south of which city?

Taal lies about 50 km south of Manila, in Batangas; all its historical eruptions have come from Volcano Island in the middle of Taal Lake, and its 1911 eruption killed more than 1,300 people.

Mayon's deadliest eruption, in 1814, buried which town and killed about 1,200 people?

Mayon's 1 February 1814 eruption buried Cagsawa under ash and lahars, killing about 1,200 people; the church's bell tower, which pokes above the deposits, became a popular tourist stop beneath the famously symmetrical cone.

The 1886 Tarawera eruption is blamed for destroying which famed New Zealand attraction?

The Pink and White Terraces, silica sinter staircases on Lake Rotomahana that drew visitors from across the British Empire, were buried or blown apart when Tarawera erupted on 10 June 1886, killing about 120 people.

Huaynaputina's 1600 eruption, South America's largest on record, occurred in which country?

Huaynaputina, in southern Peru's Moquegua region, erupted on 19 February 1600; its sulfate aerosols cooled the globe and have been linked to the Russian famine of 1601–1603, and Arequipa took most of a century to recover.

Samalas, whose 1257 blast was tied to ice-core sulfate spikes in 2013, is on which island?

Samalas, part of the Rinjani complex on Lombok, was matched in 2013 to the 1257 sulfate spike in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores; Babad Lombok texts say its pyroclastic flows destroyed the kingdom's capital, Pamatan.

Japan's deadliest volcanic disaster, in 1792, saw which lava dome collapse into the Ariake Sea?

Mayuyama, a lava dome on Unzen's flank, collapsed on 21 May 1792 after an earthquake; the landslide swept through Shimabara and raised a tsunami across the Ariake Sea, killing roughly 15,000 people.

Which Javanese city lies 28 km south of Merapi, whose 2010 eruption killed 353 people?

Yogyakarta lies about 28 km south of Merapi; the October–November 2010 eruption killed 353 people and drove some 350,000 from their homes, and heavy rain then turned fresh deposits into damaging lahars.

KLM Flight 867 lost all four engines in December 1989 after flying into ash from which volcano?

KLM Flight 867 flew into Redoubt's ash cloud on 15 December 1989, a day after the Alaskan volcano began erupting; the nearly new 747 restarted its engines and landed safely at Anchorage.

From which town across the bay did Pliny the Younger witness the AD 79 eruption?

Pliny the Younger watched from Misenum, where his uncle Pliny the Elder commanded the Roman fleet; the elder sailed toward the disaster and died at Stabiae, and the nephew's two letters to Tacitus are the only surviving eyewitness account.

Which excavator devised injecting plaster into voids left by Pompeii's decomposed victims?

Giuseppe Fiorelli, who ran the Pompeii excavations in the 1860s, made the first plaster casts in 1863 by pouring plaster into hollows that decomposed bodies had left in the hardened ash.

At Herculaneum, the remains of at least 300 victims were found in what seaside structures?

Excavations from 1980 found some 300 skeletons crammed into the vaulted boat houses lining Herculaneum's ancient beach, killed instantly by a pyroclastic surge; the finds overturned the belief that the town had been evacuated.

Vesuvius's March 1944 eruption wrecked B-25 bombers belonging to which air force?

The US Army Air Forces' 340th Bombardment Group was based at Pompeii Airfield near Terzigno; hot ash from the March 1944 eruption wrecked about 80 B-25s, damaging fabric control surfaces, windscreens and turrets.

Hawaii's 2018 lower Puna eruption began with fissures opening in which subdivision?

The first fissure opened in Leilani Estates on 3 May 2018; 24 fissures eventually opened along the lower East Rift Zone, lava filled Kapoho Bay in June, and about 700 homes were destroyed.

Tavurvur and Vulcan devastated which Papua New Guinean town in 1994, yet only five people died?

Rabaul was buried in ash when Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted on 19 September 1994; years of disaster planning meant residents had evacuated ahead of the blasts, and the provincial capital later moved to Kokopo.

The Campi Flegrei caldera, a restless supervolcano, lies just west of which city?

Campi Flegrei lies just west of Naples; part of the city is built over the caldera, much of which lies beneath the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and its ground rises and falls in episodes known as bradyseism.