Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
plosions. The energy of the blast was estimated to be the equivalent of all the nuclear stockpiles of
the 1980s. An estimated 50,000 people living on nearby islands were killed, and as many as 90,000
overall died from the volcano's wider effects. The ash cloud produced was responsible for the havoc
in normal weather conditions in the following year, known as the “year without summer,” creating
severe crop shortfalls in New England and Europe.
1883, August 26-28—Dutch East Indies
In May, a dormant volcano on the island of Krakatoa
began the most violent and destructive eruption in modern history. The climax came on August 27
with an explosion estimated by modern researchers to have been equivalent to 3,000 Hiroshima-
sized atomic-bomb blasts, creating the loudest noise known to man. Violent explosions destroyed
three quarters of the island of Krakatoa, sending most of the island up into the air as dust and ash.
Most of the estimated 36,000 people who were killed by the volcano were drowned by the enorm-
ous tsunamis it produced, some of which reached 100 feet high and raised water levels as far away
as England. Dust, ashes, and smoke rose to a height of about 50 miles, circling the Earth and cre-
ating unusual red sunsets for years to come. The cloud also blocked the sunlight, causing a world-
wide drop in temperatures. The ashes of that explosion helped create a new island volcano, Anak
Krakatoa, which first erupted in 1927.
1902, April-May—Martinique
Located near the city of Pierre on this Caribbean island, Mount
Pelée had last erupted in 1856. When it showed signs of erupting again, island officials were uncon-
cerned. But the volcanic explosion set fire to much of the island, killing almost the entire population
of 28,000 in Pierre, many of whom were suffocated by a deadly gas emitted by the volcano.
1912, June—Alaska
The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes on the Alaskan peninsula is named for
its many
fumaroles
, or volcanic steam vents. It was created by one of the most explosive volcanoes
of the twentieth century when Mount Katmai erupted. Despite its violence, due to its remote loca-
tion the volcano caused no deaths.
1943, February—Mexico
An earthquake originating in a cornfield 200 miles west of Mexico City
marked the birth of a volcano known as Parícutin. The volcano's cone grew in amazing fashion,
attracting researchers and curious onlookers from all over the world who watched as a new volcan-
ic mountain literally grew overnight. After one day, the cone had reached 120 feet in height; after
a week, it had grown to 400 feet (125 meters). The flowing lava eventually buried the nearby vil-
lage that gave the volcano its name, leaving only church spires showing. Amazingly, there were no
deaths. By 1950 when the activity stopped, the cone had grown to 7,450 feet (2,270 meters).
1963, Iceland
An underwater volcano off the coast of Iceland—itself a volcanic island where geo-
thermal energy provides most of the heat for its population—erupted and created the small island of
Surtsey, now a nature reserve.
1980, May—Washington
Located in the southwest part of the state of Washington, Mount St.
Helens became the first volcano to erupt in the continental United States in more than sixty years.
Equivalent to a 400-megaton hydrogen bomb, the explosion ripped off the top of the mountain and
sent it up in a cloud that blew northeastward and dropped ash 600 miles away. A cubic mile of
mountain was literally blown away, and floods and boiling mud stripped millions of trees bare for
a radius of several miles. Although it was a huge explosion, the area was sparsely populated and
