Volcanoes have always been dangerous. Some of them are located on the seabed and when lava erupts, they do not cause much damage to the surrounding world. Much more dangerous are such geological formations on land, near which large settlements and cities are located. We offer for review a list of the deadliest volcanic eruptions.

79 AD. Volcano Vesuvius. 16,000 dead.

During the eruption, a deadly column of ash, dirt and smoke rose from the volcano to a height of 20 kilometers. Erupted ashes flew even to Egypt and Syria. Every second, millions of tons of molten rock and pumice came out of the vent of Vesuvius. A day after the start of the eruption, streams of hot mud mixed with stones and ash began to descend. Pyroclastic flows completely buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae. In places, the thickness of the avalanche exceeded 8 meters. The death toll is estimated at at least 16,000.

Painting "The Last Day of Pompeii". Karl Bryulov

The eruption was preceded by a series of tremors of magnitude 5, but no one responded to natural warnings, since earthquakes are a frequent occurrence in this place.

Last eruption Vesuvius It was recorded in 1944, after which it calmed down. Scientists suggest that the longer the "hibernation" of the volcano lasts, the stronger its next eruption will be.

1792. Volcano Unzen. About 15,000 dead.

The volcano is located on the Japanese peninsula Shimabara. Activity Unzen recorded since 1663, but the strongest eruption was in 1792. After the volcanic eruption, a series of tremors followed, which caused a powerful tsunami. A deadly 23-meter wave hit the coastal zone of the Japanese Islands. The number of victims exceeded 15,000 people.

In 1991, at the foot of Unzen, 43 journalists and scientists died under the lava when it rolled down the slope.

1815. Volcano Tambora. 71,000 casualties.

This eruption is considered the most powerful in the history of mankind. April 5, 1815 began the geological activity of the volcano, located on the Indonesian island Sumbawa. The total volume of erupted material is estimated at 160-180 cubic kilometers. A powerful avalanche of hot rocks, mud and ash rushed to the sea, covering the island and sweeping away everything in its path - trees, houses, people and animals.

All that remains of the Tambora volcano is a huge caledera.

The roar of the explosion was so strong that it was heard on the island of Sumatra, which was located 2000 kilometers from the epicenter, the ash flew to the islands of Java, Kilimantan, Molucca.

The eruption of the Tambora volcano in the representation of the artist. Unfortunately the author could not be found.

The release of huge amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere has caused global climate change, including such a phenomenon as "volcanic winter". The next year, 1816, also known as the "year without summer", turned out to be abnormally cold, unusually low temperatures were established in North America and Europe, a catastrophic crop failure led to great famine and epidemics.

1883 Krakatoa volcano. 36,000 deaths.

The volcano woke up on May 20, 1883, it began to release huge clouds of steam, ash and smoke. This continued almost until the end of the eruption, on August 27, 4 powerful explosions thundered, which completely destroyed the island where the volcano was located. Fragments of the volcano scattered over a distance of 500 km, the gas-ash column rose to a height of more than 70 km. The explosions were so powerful that they could be heard at a distance of 4800 kilometers on the island of Rodrigues. The blast wave was so powerful that it went around the Earth 7 times, they were felt after five days. In addition, she raised a tsunami 30 meters high, which led to the death of about 36,000 people on nearby islands (some sources indicate 120,000 victims), 295 cities and villages were washed into the sea by a powerful wave. The air wave tore off the roofs and walls of houses, uprooted trees within a radius of 150 kilometers.

Lithograph of Krakatau volcano eruption, 1888

The eruption of Krakatoa, like Tambor, affected the climate of the planet. The global temperature during the year fell by 1.2 degrees Celsius and recovered only by 1888.

The force of the blast wave was enough to lift such a large piece of coral reef from the bottom of the sea and throw it several kilometers away.

1902 Mont Pele volcano. 30,000 people died.

The volcano is located in the north of the island of Martinique (Lesser Antilles). He woke up in April 1902. A month later, the eruption itself began, suddenly a mixture of smoke and ash began to escape from the crevices at the foot of the mountain, lava went in a red-hot wave. The city was destroyed by an avalanche Saint Pierre, which was located 8 kilometers from the volcano. Of the entire city, only two people survived - a prisoner who was sitting in an underground solitary cell, and a shoemaker who lived on the outskirts of the city, the rest of the city's population, more than 30,000 people, died.

Left: Photograph of ash plumes erupting from the Mont Pele volcano. Right: a surviving prisoner, and the completely destroyed city of Saint-Pierre.

1985, Nevado del Ruiz volcano. More than 23,000 victims.

Located Nevado del Ruiz in the Andes, Colombia. In 1984, seismic activity was recorded in these places, clubs of sulfur gases were emitted from the top and there were several minor ash emissions. On November 13, 1985, the volcano exploded, releasing a column of ash and smoke over 30 kilometers high. Erupted hot streams melted the glaciers at the top of the mountain, thus forming four lahars. Lahars, consisting of water, pieces of pumice, fragments of rocks, ash and dirt, swept away everything in their path at a speed of 60 km / h. City Armero was completely washed away by the stream, out of 29,000 residents of the city, only 5,000 survived. The second lahar hit the city of Chinchina, killing 1,800 people.

The descent of the lahar from the summit of Nevado del Ruiz

The consequences of the lahara - the city of Armero, demolished to the ground.

According to the most conservative estimates, there are now about 6,000 volcanoes on our planet, most of which are at the bottom of the oceans. And how many of them were there in the entire history of the existence of the Earth? Nobody can say this. But there is information about the most terrible volcanic eruptions that led to catastrophic consequences ...

On Earth, volcanic eruptions have occurred with a certain periodicity, are occurring and will continue to occur in the future. The Earth seems to be trying to demonstrate its power to a person, to remind that jokes are bad with it.

There are volcanoes in almost all parts of our planet. They can be compared to faucets in the surface of the Earth, which periodically open in order to drain the energy accumulated in the depths. Some volcanoes erupt, go out and disappear from the face of the Earth, while others can wake up and erupt again.

A volcanic eruption is a grandiose spectacle that many strive to capture. Photos and videos of volcano eruptions fascinate and frighten at the same time. One can imagine how people felt, who in reality found themselves near an awakened volcano! Horror and hot breath of death.

We present you interesting historical facts about volcanoes, whose eruptions have become the most destructive and terrible in the history of human society.

Vesuvius

Vesuvius is located in Italy, near Naples. Throughout history, it has erupted about 90 times. The most powerful eruption occurred in August 79 AD, when several cities were wiped off the ground, including Pompeii.

Erupting Vesuvius threw a huge cloud of ash to a 20-kilometer height, and hot lava rushed down, burying city streets, buildings and residents.

Amazing fact. A few years before this fatal eruption, Vesuvius gradually woke up, earthquakes became more frequent, albeit not very strong ones. But people did not attach any importance to this, for which they paid.

After that, Vesuvius erupted repeatedly. The strongest was the eruption of 1631. It was 10 times weaker than in 79, but more than 4,000 people died, as there was a high population density on the slopes of the volcano.

And as a result of the eruption of Vesuvius in 1805, 26,000 inhabitants of Naples were killed.

Since the second half of the last century, Vesuvius has been “silent”, which, according to experts, indicates that the next eruption will be very strong.

Unzen

Unzen is an active volcano located in Japan. The eruption with the largest loss of life occurred in 1792. The awakened volcano itself did not cause numerous human deaths, but it provoked an earthquake and a tsunami with hundred-meter waves that killed 15,000 people.

In recent decades, there have been many small eruptions of Undzen, resulting in the destruction of more than two thousand houses.

Interesting fact. When Undzen erupts, there is no red-hot lava. Down from the slopes of the volcano streams of stones, ash and volcanic gases, heated to 800 ° C, rush.

Tambora

Volcano Tambora is located on the island of Sumbawa, in Indonesia.

He began to wake up in 1812, blowing wisps of smoke from the crater. And on April 5, 1815, the volcano woke up completely, and the eruption began. Five days later, the flowing lava covered all the slopes of the volcano. Soon, high-temperature flows of volcanic gases and stones joined it. All this destructive force rushed down to the sea, sweeping away the villages standing in its way. Within a radius of a hundred kilometers from Tambora, everything was covered with a thick layer of volcanic dust. This dust even reached the island of Borneo, located 750 km from the volcano!

The eruption generated a tsunami. As a result, 90,000 people died, many animals and all the vegetation of the island was destroyed.

The eruption of the Tambora volcano "backfired" on all mankind, as a huge amount of sulfur dioxide entered the upper atmosphere. Which led to a climate anomaly.

Krakatoa

Krakatoa is an active volcano on the island of the same name in Indonesia.

On May 20, 1883, smoke began to curl over it, and on August 27, 4 explosions thundered, almost completely destroying the island. Their strength was 200 thousand times greater than the explosion in Hiroshima.

A cloud of ash rose to a height of 80 kilometers, and incandescent streams rushed down, falling into the ocean. A tsunami arose, sweeping away everything in its path. The inhabitants of not only this, but also neighboring islands died - more than 40 thousand people.

Mont Pelee

Mont Pele is a volcano on the island of Martinique (France).

A weak eruption happened in 1851, and then the volcano calmed down for several decades. He began to wake up in the early spring of 1902, but the inhabitants did not pay attention to this, believing that, as before, the volcano would only frighten them and fall asleep again. But on May 8 of that year, Mont Pele ejected a huge cloud of ash and gas.

At the slope, eight kilometers from the volcano, is the port city of Saint-Pierre. When the hot streams of gas and stones rushed down, almost no one could escape. Someone tried to take cover on the ships moored at the pier, but they also burned down.

The city was completely destroyed, more than 30 thousand people died.

Interesting fact. Only two citizens survived - a prisoner who was imprisoned in an underground cell, and another citizen who lived on the outskirts.

Nevado del Ruiz

The active volcano Nevado del Ruiz is located in the Andes, in Colombia.

In 1984, in the mountains, not far from the volcano, it began to "shake", and in mid-November 1985, Nevado del Ruiz woke up. A column of ash rose to a 30-kilometer height, hot streams of stones and gases rushed down, under which glaciers and snow melted. One of the powerful streams of water and mud that formed washed away the town of Armero (more than 20,000 people died in it), the second - the town of Chinchina (about 2,000 people died). Thousands of Colombians managed to escape, but lost their homes and property - everything burned down. And the hot streams destroyed all coffee plantations in the district, which caused enormous damage to the country's economy, for which coffee is one of the main sources of income.

It would seem that the volcanic eruption happened in our time, when modern equipment allows us to track the symptoms of a awakening volcano in time, but for some reason experts did not consider Nevado del Ruiz dangerous and did not follow the dynamics of the processes occurring in its depths. Obviously, scientists decided that the volcano, "silent" for almost five centuries, is not dangerous. Outcome is known.

Toba

Toba is another Indonesian volcano located in Sumatra. This is an extinct volcano with the largest caldera, in which the magnificent Lake Toba is now located.

But such an idyllic picture was not always. About 75,000 years ago, the Toba volcano began to erupt, and it was the most powerful eruption ever to occur on our planet. Now such volcanoes are called supervolcanoes.

According to scientists, the eruption of Toba happened during the next ice age and led to an even greater cooling on Earth, as huge masses of ash blocked access to the sun's rays for many months.

This fact clearly speaks of the strength of the eruption. The ash from the volcano was found by specialists in Lake Malawi (Africa), located at a distance of 7,000 km.

As a result of this catastrophe, according to scientists, the population of people and animals has decreased significantly. There was a so-called "bottleneck effect" when, due to some kind of global catastrophe, the gene pool of some species is reduced.

El Chichon

El Chichon is a Mexican active volcano.

Its penultimate eruption occurred in 1360, after which El Chichon fell asleep, which lulled the vigilance of both people and scientists. The Mexicans set up picturesque villages on the slopes of a volcano with fertile lands, and experts did not at all follow the “life activity” of El Chichon. But in vain.

In 1982, El Chichon exploded, throwing a column of hot ash to a height of 30 kilometers. Hot lava rushed down at a speed of 100 km / h, burying one village and a thousand of its inhabitants under it. Then two more explosions thundered, "burying" several more villages with residents.

As a result, a 300-meter crater was formed, and the entire surface of the earth at a distance of 25,000 km2 was covered with a 40-cm layer of ash.

The red-hot stone blocks thrown out by the volcano destroyed the dam on the river, as a result of which the water strongly heated by the volcano rushed in different directions, flooding roads, pastures with livestock, coffee and banana plantations and destroying bridges.

The entire atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere "drowned" in this ash. Even in the Arctic, there have been changes in the upper atmosphere! Throughout the following year, "ash clouds" were evenly dispersed in the air, while the ozone content in it decreased by 10%. It took about 10 years for the composition of the atmosphere to return to normal.

In total, more than 2,000 people died, and all flora and fauna in a diameter of 10 km from the epicenter of the explosion were destroyed. This figure could be higher if some people did not have time to leave their homes. It turns out that some Mexicans, noticing weak tremors, decided to play it safe and left their homes, thus saving their lives.

Those who did not leave earlier tried to leave their homes in a hurry. The authorities organized their evacuation, but it went badly. The situation was aggravated by the fact that some residents repeatedly returned to their homes in order to have time to take out some property. Many of them failed and died.

Lucky

Lucky is a volcano in Iceland. This is a 25-kilometer chain of 115 craters.

In 934, a very powerful eruption occurred, after which for many centuries Lucky only occasionally slightly reminded of himself. But in 1783 he again loudly declared himself. Immediately several volcanoes from the Laki chain began to erupt. Incandescent lava flows flowed down for eight months, covering almost 600 km2.

Lava melted the ice, and huge masses of water flooded everything around.

Volcanic ash covered almost all of Iceland, and the air was filled with poisonous sulfur oxide and fluorine, which killed all life around.

Traces of this ash were observed to some extent during the year in the atmosphere of Eurasia and North America. This led to a drop in temperature and crop failure.

Ashes covered pastures, which also contributed to the worsening of the situation. More than half of the animals were destroyed, almost all birds and fish. The disaster led to a famine, which killed one in five residents.

Etna

Etna is an active volcano in Sicily (Italy).

It has a main crater and several hundred side craters, of which lava erupts periodically (once every few months). Once in 100 - 200 years, lava destroys a settlement, but the Italians restore it with maniacal persistence. Why do they do it? Maybe they don't have a sense of self-preservation? Not at all. The fact is that the slopes of Etna are very fertile lands that give an excellent harvest. That is why the Sicilians take risks, hoping for good luck.

In total, Etna erupted more than two hundred times. In 1169, it killed 15,000 people, and the eruption of 1669 completely changed the outlines of the island.

In mid-March 1669, Mount Etna woke up, its eruption lasted about six months. The eruption was accompanied by numerous earthquakes. Lava flowed down in a wide stream. In three weeks, she destroyed several towns and all the villages that stretched at the foot of Etna, and reached the fortress walls of Catania, the port city of Sicily. For a while, the walls contained the lava and forced it to flow around them, flowing into the sea. But at the end of April, the lava won - it was able to overcome the fortress walls and poured into the city. All this time, the townspeople tried to build additional protection, which helped save part of Catania. And the rest of the city was buried under thick layers of lava.

As a result, the coastline has changed. Rumor has it that one castle of a very wealthy citizen, standing earlier on the shore of the bay, turned out to be cut off from the land by lava. After the eruption, he survived, but became an island located at a distance of 2 km from the land.

According to various estimates, as a result, from 20 to 100 thousand people died.

Merapi

Merapi is the most active active volcano on the island of Java, Indonesia.

In 1931, it began to erupt. For two weeks, lava flows buried everything under them at a distance of seven kilometers. It would seem much worse. But then the volcano was shaken by an explosion that destroyed two of its slopes. The ash covered almost the entire island in a thick layer. More than 1300 people died.

1. Vesuvius, 79 AD, at least 16,000 people died.

Historians learned about this eruption from the letters of an eyewitness, the poet Pliny the Younger, to the ancient Roman historian Tatsiatus. During the eruption, Vesuvius threw a deadly cloud of ash and smoke to a height of 20.5 km, and every second erupted about 1.5 million tons of molten rock and crushed pumice. At the same time, a huge amount of thermal energy was released, which many times exceeded the amount released during the explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

So, within 28 hours after the start of the eruption, the first series of pyroclastic flows descended (a mixture of hot volcanic gases, ash and stones). The streams covered a huge distance, almost reaching the Roman city of Miseno. And then another series came down, and two pyroclastic flows destroyed the city of Pompeii. Subsequently, the cities of Oplontis and Herculaneum, located near Pompeii, were buried under volcanic deposits. Ashes also flew to Egypt and Syria.

The famous eruption was preceded by an earthquake that began on February 5, 62. According to researchers, the earthquake was a magnitude of 5 to 6. It led to widespread destruction around the Gulf of Naples, where in particular the city of Pompeii was located. The damage to the city was so severe that they could not be repaired even by the beginning of the eruption itself.

It is important to note that the Romans, according to Pliny the Younger, were accustomed to periodic tremors in this region, so they were not particularly alarmed by this earthquake. However, since August 20, 79, earthquakes have become more and more frequent, but still they were not perceived by people as warnings of an impending catastrophe.

Interestingly, after 1944, Vesuvius is in a rather calm state. However, scientists suggest that the longer the volcano is inactive, the stronger its next eruption will be.

2. Unzen, 1792, about 15 thousand people died.

In the photo - the dome of the Fujin-dik of the Unzen volcano. After it erupted in 1792, it remained dormant for 198 years, until it erupted in November 1990. Currently, the volcano is considered weakly active.

This volcano is part of Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, which is characterized by frequent volcanic activity. The oldest volcanic deposits in this region are over 6 million years old, and extensive eruptions occurred between 2.5 million and 500,000 years ago.

However, the deadliest eruption occurred in 1792, when lava began to erupt from the volcanic dome of Fujin Dyke. An earthquake followed the eruption, causing the edge of the Mayu-yama volcanic dome to collapse, creating a landslide. In turn, the landslide triggered a tsunami, during which waves reached 100 meters in height. The tsunami killed about 15,000 people.

According to the results of 2011, Japan Times magazine called this eruption the most terrible of all that has ever occurred in Japan. Also, the Unzen eruption in 1792 is one of the five most destructive eruptions in human history in terms of the number of human casualties.

3. Tambora, 1815, at least 92 thousand people died.

An aerial view of the Tambora volcano caldera, which was formed during a colossal eruption in 1815. Photo credit: Jialiang Gao.

On April 5, 1815, the Tambora volcano, located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, erupted. It was accompanied by rumbling sounds that could be heard even 1400 km from the island. And in the morning of the next day, volcanic ash began to fall from the sky and there were sounds resembling the noise of cannons firing in the distance. By the way, because of this similarity, a detachment of troops from Yogyakarta, an ancient city on the island of Java, thought that an attack had been made on a neighboring post.

The eruption intensified on the evening of April 10: lava began to flow out, completely covering the volcano, and it began to “rain” from pumice with a diameter of up to 20 cm. All this was accompanied by the flow of pyroclastic flows from the volcano to the sea, which destroyed all the villages on their way.

This eruption is considered one of the largest in human history. During it, explosions were heard 2600 km from the island, and the ash flew at least 1300 km away. In addition, the eruption of the Tambora volcano triggered a tsunami, during which waves reached 4 meters in height. After the disaster, tens of thousands of inhabitants and animals of the island died, and all vegetation was destroyed.

It is important to note that during the eruption a huge amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) entered the stratosphere, which subsequently led to a global climate anomaly. In the summer of 1816, extreme weather conditions were observed in the countries of the northern hemisphere, which is why 1816 was called the "Year without a summer." At that time, the average global temperature dropped by about 0.4-0.7`C, which is enough to cause significant problems in agriculture around the world.

So, on June 4, 1816, frosts were recorded in Connecticut, and the next day most of New England (a region in the northeastern United States) was covered by cold. Snow fell two days later in Albany, New York, and Dennisville, Maine. Moreover, such conditions lasted at least three months, due to which most crops in North America died. Also, low temperatures and heavy rains led to crop losses in the UK and Ireland.

Against the backdrop of a famine from 1816 to 1819, there was a serious epidemic of typhus in Ireland. Several tens of thousands of its inhabitants perished.

4. Krakatoa, 1883, about 36 thousand people died.

Before the catastrophic eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatau in 1883 on May 20, the volcano began to release a large amount of smoke and ash. This lasted until the end of the summer, when on August 27 a series of four explosions completely destroyed the island.

The explosions were so strong that they were heard 4800 km from the volcano on the island of Rodrigues (Mauritius). According to the researchers, the shock wave from the latest explosion reverberated around the world seven times! The ash rose to a height of up to 80 km, and the sound of the eruption was so loud that if someone were 16 km from the volcano, he would certainly become deaf.

A coral block thrown ashore by a tsunami on the island of Java after the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883.

The occurrence of pyroclastic flows and tsunamis had catastrophic consequences both in the region and throughout the world. The death toll was 36,417, according to government figures, although some sources claim that at least 120,000 people died.

Interestingly, the average global temperature during the year after the eruption of Krakatoa decreased by 1.2 `C. The temperature returned to its previous level only in 1888.

5. Mont Pele, 1902, about 33 thousand people died.

Eruption of Mont Pele volcano in 1902.

In April 1902, the awakening of the Mont Pele volcano located in the northern part of the island of Martinique (France) began. And on the evening of May 8, the eruption began quite suddenly. A cloud of gas and ash began to rise from a crack at the foot of Mont Pele.

Soon, a hurricane of hot gases and ash reached the city of Saint-Pierre, located 8 km from the volcano, and in a few minutes destroyed it and 17 ships in its harbor. "Roddam", which suffered multiple destruction and "powdered" with ash, was the only steamer that managed to get out of the bay. The strength of the hurricane can also be judged by the fact that the monument, which weighed several tons, was thrown several meters from its place in the city.

Visitors, almost the entire population and animals died during the eruption. Miraculously, only two people survived: August Sibarus, a prisoner in the local prison, who was in an underground solitary confinement cell, and a shoemaker who lived on the outskirts of the city.

6. Nevado del Ruiz, 1985, more than 23 thousand people.

Volcano Nevado del Ruiz before its deadly eruption in 1985.

Since November 1984, geologists have observed an increase in the level of seismic activity near the Andes volcano Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia). And on the afternoon of November 13, 1985, this highest active volcano in the Andean volcanic belt began to erupt, throwing ash into the atmosphere to a height of more than 30 km. The volcano produced pyroclastic flows, under which ice and snow melted in the mountains - large lahars (mud volcanic flows) arose. They descended down the slopes of the volcano, eroding the soil and destroying vegetation, and eventually flowed into six river valleys leading from the volcano.

One of these lahars practically washed away the small town of Armero, which lay in the valley of the Lagunilla River. Only a quarter of its inhabitants (there were a total of 28,700 people) survived. The second stream, which descended along the valley of the Chinchina River, killed about 1800 people and destroyed about 400 houses in the city of the same name. In total, more than 23,000 people died and about 5,000 were injured.

Mudflow that washed away the town of Armero after the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz.

The eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in 1902 is considered the worst natural disaster to have occurred in Colombia. The death of people during it was partly due to the fact that scientists did not know exactly when the eruption would occur, because the last time it happened was 140 years ago. And because the impending danger was not known, the government did not take costly measures.

In fact, volcanoes have shaped the face of the Earth for millions of years. Here are the most serious volcano-related disasters in human history.

№8 . Experts believe that the largest volcanic eruption that occurred at the dawn of mankind happened in Sumatra: a volcano Toba erupted 71,000 years ago. Then about 2800 cubic meters were thrown into the atmosphere. km of ash, which could reduce the human population worldwide to just 10,000 people.

№7. erupting volcano El Chichon It was not particularly large (5 on the VEI scale), with a maximum height of the eruptive column of 29 km. But there was a lot of sulfur in the cloud. In less than one month it circled the globe, but half a year passed before it spread to 30°N. ts, practically not spreading to the Southern Hemisphere. Samples collected from airplanes and balloons showed that the cloud particles were mostly tiny glass beads coated with sulfuric acid. Gradually sticking together, they quickly settled on the ground, and after a year the mass of the remaining cloud was reduced to about Oz from the original. The absorption of sunlight by cloud particles warmed the equatorial stratosphere by 4° in June 1982, but at ground level in the Northern Hemisphere the temperature dropped by 0.4°.

№6. Lucky , volcano in Iceland. Laki is a chain of more than 110-115 craters up to 818 m high, stretching for 25 km, centered on the Grímsvotn volcano and including the Eldgja canyon and the Katla volcano. In 1783-1784, a powerful (6 points on the eruption scale) fissure eruption occurred on Laki and the neighboring Grimsvotn volcano, with the release of about 15 km³ of basaltic lava within 8 months. The length of the lava flow that poured out of the 25-kilometer crack exceeded 130 km, and the area filled by it was 565 km². Clouds of poisonous fluorine and sulfur dioxide compounds rose into the air, killing more than 50% of Iceland's livestock; volcanic ash partially or completely covered pastures in most of the island. Huge masses of ice, melted by lava, led to large-scale floods. Famine began, resulting in the death of approximately 10 thousand people, or 20% of the country's population. This eruption is considered one of the most destructive in the last millennium and the largest lava eruption in history. Fine ash erupted by the volcano was present in the second half of 1783 over most of the territory of Eurasia. The decrease in temperature in the northern hemisphere caused by the eruption led in 1784 to crop failure and famine in Europe.

№5. atrocities Vesuvius, perhaps the most famous eruption in the world. Vesuvius (Italian Vesuvio, Neap. Vesuvio) is an active volcano in southern Italy, about 15 km from Naples. Located on the coast of the Gulf of Naples in the province of Naples, Campania region. Included in the Apennine mountain system, has a height of 1281 m.

The disaster claimed the lives of 10,000 people and destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

№4 . 1883 catastrophic volcanic eruption Krakatoa, which destroyed most of the island of the same name.

The eruption began in May. Until the end of August, a significant amount of rock was carried out by explosions, which led to the devastation of the "underground chamber" under Krakatoa. The last powerful explosion of the pre-climax occurred at dawn on August 27. The ash column reached a height of 30 km. On August 28, most of the island, under its own weight and the pressure of the water column, collapsed into voids below sea level, dragging along a huge mass of ocean water, the contact of which with magma caused a strong hydromagmatic explosion.

A significant part of the volcanic structure scattered within a radius of up to 500 km. Such a range of expansion was ensured by the rise of magma and rocks into the rarefied layers of the atmosphere, to a height of up to 55 km. The gas-ash column rose into the mesosphere, to a height of over 70 km. Ash fall occurred in the eastern Indian Ocean over an area of ​​over 4 million km². The volume of material ejected by the explosion was about 18 km³. The force of the explosion (6 points on the eruption scale), according to geologists, was at least 200 thousand times greater than the force of the explosion that destroyed Hiroshima.
The roar of the explosion was clearly audible within a radius of 4,000 km. On the coast of Sumatra and Java, the noise level, according to scientists, reached 180 decibels or more.

A significant amount of volcanic ash remained in the atmosphere at altitudes up to 80 km for several years and caused intense coloration of dawns.
Tsunamis up to 30 meters high caused the death of about 36 thousand people on neighboring islands, 295 cities and villages were washed into the sea. Many of them, before the tsunami approach, were probably destroyed by an air wave that toppled the equatorial forests on the coast of the Sunda Strait and tore roofs off houses and doors from their hinges in Jakarta at a distance of 150 km from the crash site. The atmosphere of the entire Earth was perturbed by the explosion for several days. The air wave went around the Earth according to various sources from 7 to 11 times.

№3 . For a long time people considered the Colombian volca Ruiz If not extinct, then at least dormant. They had good reason: the last time this volcano erupted in 1595, and then for almost five centuries did not show signs of activity.

The first signs of the awakening of Ruiz became noticeable on November 12, 1985, when ash began to erupt from the crater. At 9 pm on November 13, several explosions thundered, and a full-scale eruption began. The height of the column of smoke and rock fragments thrown out by explosions reached 8 meters. Due to the outpouring of lava and the release of hot gases, the temperature increased, as a result of which the snow and ice covering the volcano melted. Late in the evening, the mudflow reached the city of Armero located 40 kilometers from the volcano and actually wiped it off the face of the earth. Several surrounding villages were also destroyed. Oil pipelines and power lines were damaged, bridges were destroyed. Communication with the affected area was interrupted due to broken telephone lines and erosion of roads.

According to official figures from the Colombian government, about 23,000 people died or went missing as a result of the eruption, and another 5,000 were seriously injured and maimed. Tens of thousands of Colombians lost their homes and property. Coffee plantations were seriously damaged by the eruption: not only the coffee trees themselves were destroyed, but also a significant part of the already harvested crop. The Colombian economy has suffered significant damage.

№2. Mont Pelee . This eruption, which occurred in 1902 on the island of Martinique, became the strongest in the 20th century. Residents of the city of Saint-Pierre, located in Martinique, located just 8 kilometers from the Mont Pele volcano, are accustomed to considering this mountain a peaceful neighbor. And, since the last eruption of this volcano, which happened in 1851, was very weak, they did not pay much attention to the tremors and rumble that began at the end of April 1902. By May, the activity of the volcano intensified, and on May 8, one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th century broke out.

Around 8 o'clock in the morning began the eruption of Mont Pele. A cloud of ash and stones was thrown into the air, and a stream of lava rushed towards the city. However, it was not the ash and lava that turned out to be the most terrible, but the hot volcanic gases that swept through Saint-Pierre at great speed, causing fires. Desperate people tried to escape on ships standing in the port, but only the steamer Roddan managed to go to sea. Unfortunately, almost all of its crew and passengers died due to burns, only the captain and engineer survived.

As a result of the volcanic eruption, the city of Saint-Pierre was almost completely destroyed, and all the people and animals that were in it died. The eruption of Mont Pele claimed the lives of more than 30 thousand people; of the inhabitants of the city, only the criminal who was in the underground prison could remain alive.

Currently, Saint-Pierre has been partially restored, and a museum of volcanology has been built at the foot of Mont Pele.

№1 Tambora

The first signs of the awakening of the volcano became noticeable as early as 1812, when the first jets of smoke appeared above the top of Tambora. Gradually, the amount of smoke increased, it became denser and darker. April 5, 1815 there was a strong explosion, and an eruption began. The noise produced by the volcano was so strong that it was heard even 1,400 kilometers from the scene. The tons of sand and volcanic dust thrown out by Tambora covered the entire area with a thick layer within a radius of one hundred kilometers. Under the weight of ash, residential buildings collapsed not only on the island of Sumbawa, but also on neighboring islands. Ashes even reached the island of Borneo, located 750 kilometers from Tambora. The amount of smoke and dust in the air was so great that within a radius of 500 kilometers from the volcano it was night for three days. According to eyewitnesses, they saw nothing further than their own hand.

This terrible eruption, which lasted about 10 days, according to the most conservative estimates, claimed the lives of 50 thousand people. There are data according to which the death toll exceeded 90 thousand. Almost the entire population of Sumbawa was destroyed, and the inhabitants of the neighboring islands suffered severely both from the ejection of ash and huge stones, and from the famine that resulted from the destruction of fields and livestock.

Due to the eruption of Tambora, a huge amount of ash and dust accumulated in the Earth's atmosphere, and this had a significant impact on the climate of the entire planet. The year 1816 went down in history as "the year without a summer". Due to unusually low temperatures on the east coast of North America and in Europe this year there were crop failures and famine. In some countries, the snow stayed for most of the summer, and in New York and the northeastern United States, the thickness of the snow cover reached a meter. The effect of this volcanic winter gives an idea of ​​one of the consequences of a possible atomic war - nuclear winter.

Volcanic eruptions

Scientists believe that at the second stage of the process of formation of the earth's crust, the surface of our planet was completely covered with volcanoes. But those volcanoes that can be seen now are not related to this distant period. They were formed not so long ago, in the Quaternary period, that is, at the last stage of geological history, which continues to this day.

According to the definition, a volcano (from the Latin vulcanus - fire, flame) is a geological formation that occurs above channels and cracks in the earth's crust, through which hot lava, ash, hot gases, water vapor and rock fragments rise to the earth's surface during a volcanic eruption. . Today, scientists have not come to a consensus on the structure of the mechanism that causes volcanoes to erupt, the nature of underground energy, and also about other problems related to volcanic activity. Much remains unclear here, apparently, it will take a long time before a person can say that he knows everything about the driving forces of volcanic eruptions.

The modern view of what constitutes the life cycle of volcanoes is as follows. In the very depths of the earth's bowels, huge strata of overlying rocks press on hot rocks. According to physical laws, the stronger the pressure, the higher the boiling point of the substance, so magma, located far from the earth's surface, is in a solid state.

However, if you release the pressure on it, it will become fluid. Where the earth's crust is stretched or compressed, the pressure exerted by the rocks on the magma drops and a zone of partial melting is formed. There are such zones in hot spots, which are discussed in more detail below. Semi-molten rock, which has a lower density than the surrounding solid matter, begins to rise to the surface, forming giant drops - diapirs. The diapira slowly rises, while the pressure on it decreases, and, as a result, more and more of the substance in the giant drop passes into a molten state. Having risen to a certain depth, the diapira becomes a magma chamber, or in other words, a magma chamber, which serves as a direct source of volcanic activity. The molten rock may not erupt immediately, but remain inside the earth's crust. It will cool, and in this case, the process of separation of the magmatic substance into layers will occur: denser substances will solidify first and settle to the bottom of the chamber. The process will continue and the upper part of the reservoir will be occupied by light minerals and dissolved gases. All this will be in equilibrium for some time. As the gases separate from the molten substance, the pressure in the magma chamber will increase. At a certain point, it can go beyond the strength of the overlying rocks, then the magma can make its way and come to the surface. This exit will be accompanied by an eruption. Sometimes water can get into the hearth, and a huge amount of water vapor is formed and a powerful volcanic explosion will inevitably sound. If a new portion of magma suddenly enters the chamber, then the settled layers will mix and a rapid process of release of light components will occur, which will cause a sharp increase in intra-chamber pressure. An eruption can be the result of tectonic processes - such as an earthquake, because in this case cracks can form that open the magma chamber, the pressure inside it immediately drops, the contents of the chamber rushes up.

The magma chamber is connected to the Earth's surface by a channel. It goes through processes similar to what happens when we open a bottle of champagne. Everyone probably knows how it happens: gas comes out of a bottle under high pressure, knocks out the cork, there is a bang, and jets of carbonated drink fly to the ceiling. But magma is denser than champagne, a substance with a high viscosity, therefore gases make it not only foam, but also break, throwing it out in shreds.

The lava flowing out to the surface, solidifying, forms a cone-shaped mountain, which is also composed of rock fragments and ash. However, volcanic mountains do not grow indefinitely. Along with the process of elevation, from time to time a phenomenon is observed that destroys the top of the volcano, the cone collapses and the formation of a caldera - a cauldron-shaped depression with round slopes and a flat bottom. Caldera is a Spanish word that literally means "big cauldron". The mechanism for the emergence of the caldera is as follows: when the volcano throws everything out of the magma reservoir located directly under the top, it turns out to be devastated, and the walls of the crater lose their internal support, then they collapse and a giant pit is formed. Calderas can be truly enormous, for example, the entire Yellowstone National Park is a caldera. It happens that the caldera is filled with water and a large crater lake is formed. An example is Crater Lake in Oregon, which is the caldera of a volcano that erupted about 7,000 years ago. Quite often it happens that a dome begins to grow again inside the caldera, which means that a new cycle of active life begins near the volcano.

Here is how the doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences E. Markhinin describes his feelings from meeting face to face with an active volcano: ... We see at the bottom of the crater two black, like heaps of coal, cinder cones several tens of meters high. In the center of the cone, small round fiery yellow holes gape, from which jets of red-hot slag and volcanic bombs burst out every now and then ... Many bombs fly to a height of more than three hundred meters.

Explosions shake the body of the volcano... In complete darkness, a long fiery band glows in the eastern part of the huge crater. This is a lava flow ... We can freely and for a long time look into the very mouth of erupting craters, which few people have been lucky enough to do.”

Scientists have identified several different types of volcanic eruptions:

1. plinian type - lava is viscous, with a high content of gases, it is hardly squeezed out of the vent. At the same time, the gas accumulates and explodes - huge masses of ash and volcanic bombs fly up many kilometers high, so a giant black column of ash and gases, called the Plinian column, appears at the top. The eruption of Vesuvius is a typical example of this kind of natural disaster.

2. Peleian type - lava is very viscous. It practically clogs the vent, blocking the way upward for volcanic gases. Mixed with hot ash, they find their way to freedom elsewhere, making a breach in the side of the mountain. It is this type of eruptions that generates terrible scorching clouds, consisting of hot gas and ash. The best example of this type of eruptions is the Mont Pele volcano.

3. Icelandic type - the eruption occurs along the cracks. Liquid lava pours out in small fountains, flows quickly, and can flood vast areas. An example is the eruption of Laki volcano in Iceland in 1783.

4. Hawaiian type - liquid lava flows pour out only from the central vent, so these volcanoes have very gentle slopes. This type includes the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands. In particular, the fire-breathing mountain Mauna Loa.

5. Strombolian type - the eruption is accompanied by fireworks of volcanic bombs, a blinding glow and a deafening roar during explosions. The lava erupted by these types of volcanoes has a more viscous consistency. A striking example is the Stromboli volcano in Italy.

6. Bandai type It is purely a gaseous eruption. Strong explosions throw fragments of rocks, pieces of old hardened lava, ashes to the surface. This is how Japan's Bandai volcano erupts.

From ancient times, there have been legends among various peoples about amazing mountains spewing fire. The first information about volcanoes that has come down to us dates back to the middle of the first millennium BC. A person who, at least once in his life, witnessed this, without exaggeration, a grandiose natural phenomenon that gives rise to a mixture of chilling horror from the destructive power and admiration from the dazzling beauty of the spectacle in his soul, could never forget what he saw, and his story about this would undoubtedly be transmitted word of mouth. Many generations carefully preserved the memories of these terrible catastrophic events. And now the volcanoes, the eruptions of which have remained in the memory of mankind, are conditionally called active. The rest are considered extinct or asleep, although the latter is more likely to be more accurate, because the sleeper can wake up, and this is precisely what happens to volcanoes not so rarely. Considered extinct for a long time, they suddenly turn into active ones, an eruption occurs, the power of which is directly proportional to the duration of the deep sleep stage. These volcanoes cause the largest, most tragic disasters. Here are some examples. The Bandai-San volcano (Japan) woke up in 1888 and destroyed 11 villages. Volcano Leamington (New Guinea) claimed in 1951 5 thousand human lives. It is believed that the most powerful eruption of the 20th century is the explosion of the Bezymyanny volcano (Kamchatka), it was also considered extinct.

On land, volcanoes are located in strictly defined areas, which are characterized by high tectonic mobility, that is, it is possible to change the shape and volume of rocks. In these zones, earthquakes of various strengths often occur, sometimes with terrible destructive consequences.

The largest tectonically active zone is the Pacific Fire Belt, with 526 volcanoes. Some of them are at rest, but the eruptions of 328 volcanoes are a historical fact. The volcanoes of the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka also belong to this ring, there are 168 of them. Among them, one can single out the largest and most dangerous, constantly reminding of themselves, active volcanoes Klyuchevskoy, Ksudach, Shiveluch, Narymskoy and, finally, already mentioned by us Bezymyanny.

Another vast volcanically active area is a ring that includes the Mediterranean, the Iranian plateau, Indonesia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. There are especially many volcanoes in the Indonesian Sunda archipelago - 63, and 37 of them are considered active. The Mediterranean volcanoes Vesuvius, Etna, Santorino are notorious all over the world. While “sleeping”, but at any moment they can remind of their existence, the Caucasian five-thousanders Elbrus and Kazbek, the handsome Iranian Damavend. Not far from them, Transcaucasian Ararat “dozes” under a huge thickness of ice and fluffy snow.

The third largest volcanic zone is a narrow strip that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, including 69 volcanoes. Eruptions of 39 of them are documented. 70 percent of the active volcanoes in this zone are located on the mid-ocean ridge line in Iceland. These are active, frequently erupting volcanoes.

The smallest volcanically active zone occupies an area in East Africa. It has 40 volcanoes, 16 of them are active. The height of the largest volcano in this area is about six thousand meters, this is the famous Mount Kilimanjaro.

Outside these zones, there are almost no volcanoes on the continents, but the ocean floor of all four oceans is filled with a huge number of volcanic formations. Although it should be noted that underwater ones have a significant difference from terrestrial ones - a flat top and are called giyotes. Apparently, once they also had a conical shape, but the waves of the oceans, having washed away, destroyed the part that protruded above the surface. The flat surface volcanoes thus obtained later sank to the ocean floor. The Pacific Ocean is especially “rich” in guillots.

Vesuvius

For the first time in the history of mankind, a detailed description of a grandiose natural disaster caused by a powerful volcanic eruption was given by the Roman scientist Pliny the Younger. Of course, having written to the Roman historian Tacitus about the death of his uncle, the famous scientist and naval commander Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger could not imagine that in this way he would tell the whole world about the tragic events associated with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, that many subsequent generations would read with inexhaustible interest lines telling about the terrible death of the once prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia. The Romans knew Vesuvius was a volcano. At that time, this mountain had a regular conical shape, on its flat top there was a crater overgrown with grass, but there were no records of its eruptions, and the Romans believed that the volcano fell asleep forever. A terrible eruption could have had less tragic consequences if people had paid attention to the warning given to them by nature itself: in 69 AD, an earthquake occurred in the vicinity of Vesuvius, which destroyed part of Pompeii. But the inhabitants of Pompeii did not feel the danger and rebuilt their city.

16 years later, in AD 79, they apparently regretted it bitterly. And yet, most people managed to escape death, they all left the city as soon as the first signs of an impending disaster appeared. Thanks to the writing talent and love for scientific accuracy of the young man Pliny the Younger, one can vividly imagine what happened on August 24, 79 AD. The work of this boy became the first document of volcanology, the modern science of the causes of the formation of volcanoes, their development, structure, composition of eruption products and patterns of placement on the Earth's surface. “August 24, at about one in the afternoon, in the direction of Vesuvius,” Pliny wrote, “a cloud of extraordinary size appeared ... in its shape it resembled a tree, namely a pine tree, because it evenly stretched upwards with a very high trunk and then expanded into several branches ... After some time, to the ground it began to rain ashes and pieces of pumice, burned and cracked from the heat; the sea became very shallow. Meanwhile, from Vesuvius, in some places, wide tongues of flame burst out, and a huge pillar of fire rose, the brilliance and brightness of which increased due to the surrounding darkness. All this was accompanied by tremors, the strength of which was increasing, and the number of pumice pieces erupted by Vesuvius also increased; the amount of hot ash that fell at the same time was such that the ashen cloud completely blocked the sun and the day turned into night.

There was total darkness, similar, in the words of Pliny, to “the darkness that comes in the room when the lights go out.” In the Stabiae, ash and pieces of pumice almost completely covered the courtyards of houses. Even a few kilometers from Vesuvius, people were forced to constantly shake off the ashes, otherwise they would have died, covered with ashes or even crushed by them. Pliny reported: "All objects were covered with ashes, like snow." In Pompeii, the fallen layer had a thickness of about three meters, that is, the entire city was completely littered with volcanic precipitation. As already mentioned, the majority escaped, but about 2 thousand people remained buried, perhaps even buried alive in a huge common grave, the size of an entire city. The reasons for the death of these people could be very different: someone hesitated and could not get out of a covered house or cellar, someone suffocated from acrid smoke, or maybe due to a lack of oxygen in the air. Volcanic ash, having hardened, preserved the skeletons, and more often casts of the bodies and clothes of these people, household items and utensils. Thus, this terrible event gave our scientists invaluable material, helped to study in detail the culture, life and customs of that distant, inaccessible era for us. Ashes and pieces of pumice had time to cool down, flying to the ground quite long distances, so there were almost no fires in the city. It turned out that during the eruption of Vesuvius, so much liquid magma erupted from it that the top of the mountain disappeared, falling into the resulting void, which resulted in a huge hole - a crater - having a width of about three kilometers. This once again demonstrates what colossal power this widely known volcanic catastrophe had. Three years later, Vesuvius woke up again, but this time he behaved not so menacingly. All subsequent years, he also continued to act actively, constantly reminding of his existence.

And in 1794 there was a new very strong eruption. His eyewitness was the twenty-year-old Christian Leopold von Buch, who later became a famous German geologist, in particular, the author of important works on volcanology. Apparently, this event left an indelible mark on his soul and influenced his subsequent choice. Here is how he describes what happened: “On the night of June 12, there was a terrible earthquake, and then from morning to evening in the whole of Campagna the earth shook like sea waves ... Three days later, a terrible underground shock was heard ... Suddenly the sky lit up with red flames and luminous vapors . A crack formed at the foot of the cone of Vesuvius ... a dull but strong noise was heard from the mountain, like the roar of a waterfall falling into an abyss. The mountain shook incessantly, and a quarter of an hour later the earthquake intensified... People did not feel solid ground under them, the air was all engulfed in flames, terrible, never heard sounds rushed from all sides. Terrified, the people rushed to the church ... But nature did not heed the prayers; new lava flows appeared in the volcano. Smoke, flames and vapors rose above the clouds and spread in all directions in the form of a huge pine tree. After midnight the continuous noise ceased; the earth ceased to tremble, and the mountain to sway; lava poured out of the crater at short intervals ... explosions followed less and less, but their strength doubled ... After midnight, on the other side of the volcano, the sky suddenly lit up with a bright light. The lava that had devastated the southern side of the mountain now rushed along the northern slopes into a wide gorge.

In the vicinity of Naples, lava quickly rushed down the slopes in a wide river. The inhabitants of the towns of Rezina, Portici, Torre del Greco and others followed with horror every movement of the fiery river, which threatened one or the other village ... Suddenly, lava rushed to Rezina and Portici. In Torre del Greco, the entire population rushed to the church, thanking God for salvation; in a fit of joy, they forgot about the inevitable death that awaited their neighbors. But the lava met a deep ditch on its way and again changed direction, rushing to the unfortunate Torre del Greco, who considered himself already saved. The fiery stream now rushed with fury along the steep slopes and, without splitting into branches, in the form of a river two thousand feet wide, reached the flourishing city. The entire population of eighteen thousand rushed to the sea, seeking salvation there. From the shore one could see columns of black smoke and huge tongues of fire rising like lightning above the roofs of lava-filled houses. Palaces and churches fell with a noise, the mountain thundered terribly. A few hours later, there was no trace of the city, and almost all the inhabitants died in a fiery stream. Even the sea was powerless to stop the lava; the lower parts of the lava flows solidified in water, while the upper ones flowed over them. At a great distance, the water boiled in the sea, and the fish boiled in the water floated in large heaps on the surface of the water.

The next day came. The fire no longer escaped from the crater, but the mountain was still not visible. A thick black cloud lay over her and spread a gloomy veil over the bay and over the sea. Ashes fell in and around Naples; it covered grass and trees, houses and streets. The sun was devoid of brilliance and light, and the day resembled the dusk of the dawn. Only in the west was a bright streak visible, but the darkness that enveloped the city seemed all the more gloomy ... Little by little, the eruption ceased. The lava began to harden, in many places it gave cracks; vapors saturated with common salt rose rapidly; along the edges of the cracks one could see in places a brightly glowing flame. There was a continuous noise, reminiscent of distant thunder, and lightning, cutting through the black clouds of rain falling from the volcano, broke the darkness of the night. By their light, these huge masses could be seen erupting from a large crater at the top of the mountain. They rose in a thick black cloud and blurred at a height. Heavy fragments of stones fell back into the crater. The first cloud was followed by the second and third, and so on; to us the mountain seemed to be dressed in a crown of clouds arranged in some kind of peculiar order.

Finally, the ash rain turned from gray to white, and it became clear that the terrible eruption was coming to an end. And now, 10 days later, Vesuvius fell silent, although the ashes showered the city for several more days.

Santorini

The legendary volcano Santorini, whose grandiose eruption occurred in 1470 BC, is located in the Aegean Sea, north of the island of Crete. It is with him that some prominent scientists associate the famous myth of the death of Atlantis. Therefore, a detailed story about this eruption, unique in its destructive power, is placed in the chapter devoted to the question of the existence of the ancient civilization of the Atlanteans.

Dobrach

The eruption of Mount Dobrach, located near the town of Belyaka in Bulgaria, can be considered completely unpredictable. No one, even volcanologists, could imagine that such a catastrophe was possible in these parts, because nothing like this had ever happened before. However, in January 1348, Mount Dobrach suddenly turned into a fire-breathing volcano, there was a strong eruption. 11 thousand people, residents of 17 nearby settlements, became victims of a natural disaster unique for these places. By the way, the raging fiery element completely destroyed all 17 settlements, only gray dead ashes remained in their place.

Lucky

It is not for nothing that Iceland is called the country of volcanoes, because here in a relatively small area there are 40 fire-breathing mountains.

In 1783, the Icelandic volcano Laki erupted, which has the original shape of a crater - in fact, this is a whole line of volcanic vents about 25 kilometers long. Volcanoes with a similar structure usually pour out a very large amount of lava during eruptions. Lucky this time released a truly colossal portion of molten material, it is believed that it was the most lava-rich volcanic eruption in the world. It did not start suddenly; tremors and emissions of gas jets warned of its approach. And on June 8, steam poured out of the crack-vent and ash fell down. A few days later, the process of lava flow began. The first lava flows poured out of the southwestern end of the crater fissure; by the end of the month, lava began to flow out of the northeastern side of the giant fissure. The lava flow advanced on the valley of the Skaftar River with a thirty-meter wall, he managed to move forward 60 kilometers. The width of the front of the spread of the fire mass along the flat coast was equal to 15 kilometers. There was so much lava that it completely flooded this valley, the thickness of the layer of volcanic material reached 180 meters. In the next valley, Hverliefljot, the lava flow deepened 50 kilometers. This eruption lasted for six months, during which time Lucky released about 12 cubic kilometers of magma, the hot streams of which destroyed 13 farms, flooded an area of ​​560 square kilometers. Lava has a low propagation speed, a physically healthy person can run away from a fiery danger. Few died directly during the eruption itself. But the longer-term consequences of this catastrophe were truly terrible. Hot lava flows melted glaciers, rivers, which had already changed their path due to changes in the terrain by magmatic discharges, also spilled extensively, the flood covered vast areas of agricultural land. The ash, which fell in a sufficiently large amount, fell on fertile soil and destroyed all vegetation. The air was filled with clouds of poisonous gases, only a quarter of domestic animals survived in these conditions. Iceland of the 18th century was isolated from the rest of the world, and food aid was not provided to the population from outside. A monstrous tragedy awaited the country: a fifth of its population, that is, about 10 thousand people, died out. The death toll was so great because, as they say, trouble does not come alone: ​​an unusually severe winter was added to the terrible famine.

Tambor

In 1812, the Indonesian volcano Tambor, located on the island of Sumbavu, woke up from a dream, gas emissions were reported, over time they thickened and darkened. But before the volcano began to actively operate, it took no less than three years. And on April 5, 1815, a deafening explosion was heard, the roar of which was heard almost one and a half thousand kilometers away, while the blue sky was covered with huge black clouds, an ash shower poured onto Sumbawa and the islands surrounding it: Lombok, Bali, Madura, Java. From April 10 to April 12, strong explosions were repeated several more times, powerful jets of volcanic emissions flew into the air again: dust, ash, sand - their small particles clouded the sky, blocking the path of the sun's rays. A vast area inhabited by millions of people was plunged into impenetrable darkness. On the island of Lombok, all vegetation was destroyed, the greenery of gardens and fields disappeared, its place on the island was taken by a sixty-meter layer of ash. The force of the eruption was colossal - the volcano threw five-kilogram stones to a forty-kilometer distance. Tambor was a four-thousander, after the eruption its height decreased by 1150 meters, as 100 cubic kilometers of rocks were crushed and thrown into the air by the volcano. A giant caldera 700 meters deep and approximately 6 kilometers in diameter was formed. This terrible catastrophe took the lives of 92 thousand people.

Krakatoa

In the second half of the 19th century, one of the most grandiose world catastrophes occurred - the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. The part of Mount Krakatau that towered above the water was the largest island in the archipelago, the dimensions of this land area were 9 by 5 kilometers. It had three interconnected craters: the southern one - Rakata, about 800 meters, the northern one - Perbuatan, about 120 meters and the central one - Danan, about 450 meters. There were several other small islands nearby, among them Lang and Verleiten. All these islands were parts of a two-thousander volcano, the destruction of which occurred at that ancient time, when a person could not yet fix the events that took place, that is, in prehistoric times. These islands were not inhabited. But, although not so often, merchant and military ships passed near them, sometimes these places were visited by fishermen from Sumatra. Due to the uninhabited nature of this area, the exact time of activation of Krakatoa is unknown.

However, the testimony of the sailors of the German ship “Elizabeth” was preserved, on May 20, sailing through the Sunda Strait, they saw how a huge cloud rose above the Krakatoa crater, which had the shape of a mushroom and a height of almost 11 kilometers. In addition, the ship was caught in an ash fall despite being quite far from the volcano. The same sightings were made by crew members and other ships passing by Krakatoa over the next few days. Periodically, the volcano exploded, while the vibrations of the soil were felt in Batavia, today renamed Jakarta.

On May 27, residents of Jakarta noted that Krakatau was especially violent - every 5-10 minutes a menacing rumble was heard from the central crater, smoke poured in a column, ash and pieces of pumice fell.

The first half of June was relatively calm. But then the activity of the volcano increased sharply again, and on June 24, the ancient rocks that bordered the central crater disappeared, while the crater pit increased significantly. The process continued to grow. On August 11, all three main craters and a large number of small ones were already active, all of them emitted volcanic gases and ash.

The morning of August 26th was wonderful, but by noon a strange annoying noise suddenly appeared. This monotonous incessant hum kept the people of Batavia awake. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the ship "Medea" was sailing along the Sunda Strait, from its side it was clear how ash streams shot up into the sky, their height, it is believed, reached 33 kilometers. At 5 pm, the first tsunami wave was recorded - the result of the collapse of the crater wall. That same evening, the villages located on the island of Sumatra were lightly powdered with ashes. And the inhabitants of Angers and other coastal villages of Java found themselves in pitch darkness, it was almost impossible to see anything, but an unusually strong sound of waves was heard from the sea - these were huge bubbling water shafts that fell on the shore, erasing the villages from the face of the Earth, throwing them onto the devastated coastal strip small ships.

The volcano came into force: from its mouth, along with gas jets and ash, massive stone boulders rapidly flew out, like small pebbles. The ashfall was so plentiful that by two o'clock in the morning the deck of the ship "Berbice" was covered with a meter layer of volcanic ash. Flashes of lightning, deafening peals of thunder accompanied this grandiose eruption. Eyewitnesses said that the air was so highly electrified that touching metal objects could cause a strong electric shock.

By morning the sky cleared up, but not for long. Soon darkness again engulfed the area, a timeless impenetrable night lasting 18 hours. A complete set of products of volcanic activity: pumice, slag, ash, and thick mud - launched an offensive against the islands of Java and Sumatra. And at 6 o'clock in the morning the low-lying coastal zones were again attacked by powerful waves.

At 10 am on August 27, the most powerful explosion of Krakatoa took place, it had (without exaggeration) colossal power. Enormous masses of clastic rocks, ash, as well as powerful jets of gas and steam were ejected to a height of 70-80 km. All this was spread over an area of ​​one million square kilometers. Some scientists believe that the smallest particles of ash scattered around the globe. The result of this terrible explosion was gigantic waves, the height of these destructive, deadly water walls reached the thirty-meter mark. Having fallen with all their monstrous power on the inhabited islands, they swept away everything in their path: roads, forests, villages, and cities. The water element turned the cities of Angers, Bentam, Merak into ruins. The islands of Sebesi and Serami suffered the most from the natural disaster, almost all of their population was washed away by the surging water. Only a few were brought back alive by the sea. But it cannot be said that their misadventures ended there, they had to fight for a long time and hard with the rampant natural elements for their lives. The darkness descended on the ground again. At 10:45 a new monstrous explosion sounded, fortunately, this time the sea did not support it with its terrible excitement. At 4:35 p.m., people heard a new rumbling roar, the volcano reminded people that its violent activity was not over yet. Ashfall continued until morning, more and more explosions sounded, a storm wind howled, forcing the sea surface to wave. As the sun rose, the sky cleared and the volcanic activity subsided.

However, the volcano continued to act until February 20, 1884, on this day the last explosion occurred, which completed this catastrophe, monstrous in scale, which claimed the lives of 40 thousand people. Most of these people died in the waves of a giant tsunami. The largest wave generated by this explosion went around almost the entire World Ocean, it was recorded in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and the Atlantic. The shock wave generated during the colossal explosion, even at a distance of 150 kilometers from the epicenter, was so powerful that windows were knocked out on the island of Java, doors were torn off the hinges, and even pieces of plaster fell. The roar that was heard during the explosion was heard even in Madagascar, that is, at a distance of almost 4800 kilometers from the volcano itself. No eruption was accompanied by such a powerful sound effect.

This is amazing, but after this eruption, the shores of the islands of Sumatra and Java completely changed: once the most picturesque areas, favorite vacation spots for tourists from all over the world, now represented the most deplorable picture - bare land covered with gray mud, ash, pieces of pumice, fragments of buildings, trunks of uprooted trees , bodies of drowned animals and people.

The island of Krakatau itself, whose area was 45 square kilometers, disappeared, now only half of the ancient volcanic cone rose above the sea surface. The eruption of Krakatoa provoked the occurrence of atmospheric cataclysms - terrible hurricanes raged in the vicinity of Krakatoa. It was also recorded by barometric instruments that the air wave generated by the eruption circled the globe three times.

Another amazing phenomenon was the result of this grandiose eruption, it was observed in Ceylon, Mauritius, the western coast of Africa, Brazil, Central America and several other places. It was noticed that the sun took on some strange greenish hue. This amazing color was given to the solar disk by the presence of very small particles of volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere. Other very interesting phenomena were also noted: the dust precipitation that covered the earth in Europe was of volcanic origin and coincided in chemical composition with the dust emissions of Krakatoa.

The eruption dramatically changed the topography of the seabed. The products of volcanic activity formed an island with an area of ​​​​5 square kilometers on the site of Krakatau, Ferleiten Island increased by 8 square kilometers due to all the same volcanic eruptions. One of the islets simply disappeared, and two new ones appeared instead, which later also disappeared under water. The surface of the sea was cluttered with floating pumice islands, and only very large ships managed to break through the jams they formed.

Krakatoa, although calmed down, did not fall asleep. A column of smoke is still rising from its crater. Its new volcanic cone, Anak-Krakatau, which is now weakly erupting, began to grow in late 1927.

Mont Pelee

Among the Lesser Antilles, located in the Caribbean, there is the island of Martinique. Among other things, it is noteworthy in that in its northern part there is the infamous Mont Pele volcano. Information about its first eruptions refers to 1635. During the following centuries, its volcanic activity proceeded sluggishly. After 50 years of almost absolute calm, at the beginning of the 20th century, a new eruption of Mont Pele occurred, which unexpectedly turned out to be fatal not only for the local flora and fauna, but also caused the painful death of tens of thousands of people. A detailed description of this catastrophe was compiled by the famous geologist Academician A.P. Pavlov.

And it all started, as it seemed, harmless. Numerous hot springs have opened up on the slopes of Mont Pele. Then the inhabitants of the town of Saint-Pierre, only six kilometers away from the volcano, felt an underground disturbance, and a monotonous unpleasant noise broke the natural silence. The local population, showing curiosity, went to the top of the mountain, they saw that the water in the crater lake was boiling. The volcano was actively working: in the darkness of the night, bright flashes were visible above the summit, a noise was heard from inside, which became louder and louder. Ashfall also intensified. On May 17, ash flour covered the entire western slope, animals and birds, left without food, died, their corpses could be found everywhere.

On May 18, a new misfortune came: a hot mud stream gushed along the bed of the Belaya River, it rushed at great speed and instantly destroyed the sugar factory located on the seashore. Here is the terrible story of an eyewitness to the tragedy: “At 10 minutes past midnight I hear screams. Sound the alarm. People run past my house and shout in horror: “The mountain is coming!” And I hear a noise that cannot be compared with anything, a terrible noise, well, just a devil on earth ... and I go out, look at the mountain ... Above the white clouds of steam from the mountain, a black avalanche more than 10 meters high and 150 meters wide descends with a crash ... Everything is broken, sunk ... My son, his wife, 30 people, a large building - everything was carried away by an avalanche. They are advancing with a furious onslaught, these black waves, they are advancing like a mountain, and the sea is receding before them.

On May 21, the volcano seemed to calm down, but a giant column of light gray smoke continued to stand on the top of the volcano. At first it was light and clear, but gradually the ash rain became stronger. The ash column at the top turned into a huge silvery fan-shaped cloud. Soon twilight came - it was clouds of dark smoke that enveloped the city. Residents of Saint-Pierre were forced to use artificial lighting. The ground shook, a rumble was heard from under the ground. At 07:50 there was a deafening explosion, followed by several less powerful blows. The huge mass of volcanic eruptions separated: finer ash and gases rose up, larger and heavier particles formed a monstrous black cloud, within which fiery zigzags of lightning flashed. This eerie formation rolled down the slope towards St. Pierre. It took him only three minutes to get to the city. Outside observers claimed that "the city was in an instant burned down by fire." The edge of a scorching cloud touched several carriages climbing the hill. Those who were closer to the fiery formation simply disappeared without a trace, while those who were further away managed to survive, although they received serious burns and were shell-shocked. The scorching cloud, which appeared so suddenly, suddenly “did its dirty work”, melted right before our eyes. The darkness receded, and the witnesses of the tragedy saw that Saint-Pierre was turned into a huge dead ashes, on which flames could be seen in some places, greedily devouring what could survive.

Of the 18 ships anchored in the harbor, 17 were destroyed. Only the steamer Roddan was able to leave the bay. The ship's captain, Freeman, later said that he was in his cabin around 8:00 am. The passengers of the ship stood on the deck and watched the volcano release thick clouds of smoke and beams of light into the sky. Suddenly there was a terrible roar, a strong wind came up, driving large waves across the sea, the ship began to sway. The captain rushed to the deck, and then a hot wave covered the ship, its temperature reached 700 degrees. Freeman compared the incident to a blow to the ship with a huge hammer. From the scorching cloud came lava rain. The heat was terrible, it became completely impossible to breathe, the air seemed to burn everything inside. Many, seeking salvation at sea, threw themselves overboard. Others, suffocating in their cabins, decided that they would be able to get a portion of fresh air on deck, but death awaited them there, the air was hot. The captain, trying to find a way out of a difficult situation, decided to go full speed back, and then the Roddan crashed into the flaming steamer Roraima. The last thing the captain saw from the board of the Roddan leaving the port was the flaming streets of the city of Saint-Pierre and people rushing about in their death throes among the buildings engulfed in fire. Freeman managed to bring the ship to the pier of the island of Santa Lucia. The deck of the ship was covered with a six-centimeter layer of ash, half of the people who were on the ship died. The bodies of the surviving passengers and crew were covered in horrific burns. Unfortunately, almost all of these people died from severe wounds, not having lived even two days, only the captain and engineer won the fight against death.

Here is another terrible evidence of what happened. The passenger of the steamship "Roraima", it was with him that he encountered when leaving the harbor of "Roddan", G. Thompson was one of the lucky ones who managed to survive in this fiery hell. He said that there were 68 people on the Roraima. Most of them went on deck to see what was happening on top of the volcano. Of course, it was a bewitching incomparable spectacle, not everyone manages to become an eyewitness to such a grandiose natural phenomenon in life. One of the passengers decided to capture the eruption on film. Suddenly, an eerie sound, like the roar of thousands of large cannons fired simultaneously, cut through the air. The sky was lit up with a powerful fiery flash, Captain Myugg ordered to urgently weigh anchor. But he was too late, the monstrous fiery cloud had already reached the bay and breathed on the ship with its scorching burning heat. Thompson ran to the cabin, the steamer tossed from side to side, the masts collapsed, the pipes fell, as if cut off. Fiery ash and red-hot lava clogged the eyes, mouth, ears of everyone who remained on the deck. The people were blinded by the instantly falling pitch darkness and deafened by the roar. They were dying from suffocating heat, it was impossible to help them, it was an excruciating, painful death. At least someone managed to survive only because the fiery whirlwind lasted only a few minutes. However, its consequences were terrible: the bodies of burned people covered the deck, a fire broke out in several places on the ship, the wounded, unable to endure the hellish pain, screamed for help. Flames engulfed the ship, most of those on board perished. Only a few people miraculously survived, almost seven hours after the disaster that occurred around 8 in the morning, these people were picked up by the steamer "Suchet", which arrived from Fort-de-France.

It took another two days before it was possible to get into the city. This is what people saw when they came to the bay: the water surface was littered with the wreckage of the pier and ships, as well as the charred corpses of the dead. The steamer Roraima was still on fire. The beautiful city of Saint-Pierre no longer existed, the lush vegetation that delighted the eye, which surrounded it, disappeared without a trace. A gray, lifeless desert appeared before the eyes of the people. Ash covered everything, only in some places one could see the charred tree trunks, as well as the black ruins of houses, slightly powdered with the same silvery ash dust. The strange, more like a winter landscape was complemented by puffs of dense white steam rising over the top of the now gray mountain. Attempts to get into the city center were unsuccessful - the ashes that covered the ground were so hot that it was impossible to walk on it. Less affected, if I may say so, because the whole city was destroyed, the northern part of Saint-Pierre. The trees and wooden parts of the buildings were not so badly burned here, the glass was not melted. Apparently, here the fiery avalanche passed casually. Everything in the central and southern parts of the city burned down, the trees turned into black firebrands, the glass melted, the bodies of people were charred, it was impossible to identify them. Of the 30,000 inhabitants of Saint-Pierre, only two survived. The first was a prisoner, he was kept in a near-sealed death row in a local prison. His body was severely burned. Before he was found, he spent three days without food or water. The second chosen one of fate was a shoemaker who was in his own house during the disaster. He owes his life to a light breath of a breeze that suddenly breathed freshness in his direction at the most terrible moment. Everyone who was near him died in agony. Here is his brief, terrifying story: “I felt a terrible wind ... My arms and legs were burning ... Four of those who were nearby were screaming and writhing in pain. In 10 seconds the girl fell down dead… The father was dead: his body became red and swollen… Distraught, I waited for death… An hour later the roof was on fire… I came to my senses and ran.”

However, the volcano did not calm down on this, continuing to act actively. And more than once terrible scorching clouds formed over Mont Pele. So, on June 2, 1902, a fiery hurricane swept over the ruins of the dead city again, more powerful than the first.

Twenty days later there was a new strong eruption and the volcano gave rise to another hot whirlwind. The English scientist Anderson described this amazing phenomenon as follows: “Suddenly, our attention was attracted by a black cloud that appeared above the crater ... It did not rise up, but kept for some time on the edge of the crater near the crevice and retained its shape for a long time ... We looked at it for a while and, finally, noticed that the cloud does not stand still, but rolls down the mountainside, gradually increasing in volume. The further it rolled, the faster its movement became ... There was no doubt that this was an ash cloud, and it was coming straight at us. The cloud descended the slope of the mountain. It became immeasurably larger, but still had a rounded shape with a swollen surface. It was black as pitch, and streaks of lightning flashed through it. The cloud reached the northern edge of the bay, and in its lower part, where the black mass came into contact with the water, a strip of lightning flashed incessantly was visible. The speed of the cloud's movement decreased, its surface became less and less agitated - it turned into a large black cover and no longer threatened us.

On September 12, the volcano again threw out a deadly fiery cloud, the edge of which reached the Red Hill, previously scorching whirlwinds did not pass over this territory. The victims of the new disaster were 1,500 people.

Scientists believe that the scorching cloud consists of an emulsion mixture of hot gases and red-hot lava dust. The speed of its movement is colossal, it can reach 500 kilometers per hour, which is why this amazing formation is so dangerous for humans and all living things in general - it is impossible to escape from it.

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