TOP-5 of the most powerful volcanic eruptions

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On April 5, 1815, the eruption of the Tambora volcano began in Sumbawa. It is considered one of the largest in history. 92 thousand people became victims of the disaster.

1) The eruption of Vesuvius, 79

One of the most famous eruptions in history led to the death of not only Pompeii, but also three more Roman cities - Herculaneum, Oplontius and Stabius. Pompeii, located about 10 km from the crater of Vesuvius, was filled with lava and covered with a huge layer of small pieces of pumice.

Most of the townspeople managed to escape from Pompeii, but about 2 thousand people died from poisonous sulfur gases. Pompeii was so deeply buried under ash and solidified lava that the ruins of the city could not be found until the end of the 16th century. Systematic excavations began only in the 19th century.

2) Eruption of Etna, 1669

Etna on the island of Sicily - the highest active volcano in Europe - has erupted more than 200 times, destroying a settlement approximately every 150 years. Despite this, the Sicilians still settle on the slopes of the volcano.

The most powerful eruption in the history of Etna's activity is considered to be the eruption of 1669, which, according to some sources, lasted more than six months. The coastline of the island was significantly damaged: the Ursino castle, which stood on the very seashore, after the eruption was at a distance of 2.5 km from the water. At the same time, lava covered the city walls of Catania and burned the homes of about 30 thousand people.

3) The eruption of Tambora, 1815

Tambora is located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, but the results of the activity of this volcano caused people to starve around the world. The eruption influenced the climate so strongly that it was followed by the so-called “year without summer”.

The eruption itself ended with the fact that the volcano literally exploded: the four-kilometer giant in one moment shattered into pieces, throwing almost 2 million tons of debris into the air.

More than 10 thousand people died instantly. The explosion caused a tsunami up to 9 m high, which hit the neighboring islands and killed hundreds of human lives. The debris of the volcano, flying up to an altitude of 40 km, turned into dust, light enough to be in such a state in the atmosphere.

This dust rose into the stratosphere and began to whirl around the Earth, reflecting the sun's rays, which deprived the planet of much of the heat and painted sunsets in a spectacular orange. Many experts are inclined to consider the eruption of Tambora the most destructive in history.

4) Eruption of Mont Pele, 1902

Early in the morning on May 8, Mont Pele literally burst into pieces - 4 strongest explosions destroyed the stone giant. Fiery lava rushed along the slopes towards one of the most important ports on the island of Martinique. A cloud of incandescent ash covered the disaster area. As a result of the eruption, about 36 thousand people died, and one of the two surviving islanders was shown in the circus for a long time.

5) Ruiz eruption, 1985

Ruiz was considered an extinct volcano, but in 1985 he reminded the Colombians of himself. On November 13, several explosions sounded one after another, the strongest of which was estimated by experts at about 10 megatons.

The column of ash and rocks rose to a height of 8 km. The eruption caused the greatest damage to the city of Armero, located 50 km from the volcano, which ceased to exist within 10 minutes.

More than 20 thousand citizens were killed, oil pipelines were damaged, because of the snow melted on the tops of the mountains, rivers overflowed their banks, roads were washed out, power lines were demolished. Colombia's economy has suffered enormous damage.