Types of eruption

Seite 1

Types of eruption

Icelandic - lava flows slowly and gently from a fissure. Very fluid basaltic lava

Vesuvian - violent explosions with large amounts of ash and gas after a long period of inactivity e.g. Vesuvius 1906 - gas was blasted from a 500m wide crater to a height of 13km for 18 hours.

Peléan - violent eruption accompanied by a nuée ardente. The eruptions result from the collapse of an andesitic or rhyolitic lava dome. Violently explosive.

Plinéan - an explosive eruption of pyroclastic material from an eruption column (up to 55km high), spreading material over 5000km2. Pyroclastic flows common e.g. Pompeii, 79AD (massive amounts of lava and gas, plinian ash clouds can circle the earth in a matter of days). Violently explosive.