Report on any volcanic eruption. Largest volcanic eruptions

According to the most conservative estimates, there are now about 6,000 volcanoes on our planet, most of which are located at the bottom of the World Ocean. And how many were in the entire history of the Earth? No one can say that. But there is information about the worst volcanic eruptions that led to catastrophic consequences ...

On Earth, volcanic eruptions have occurred at a certain frequency, occur and will continue to occur. The earth seems to be striving to demonstrate to man his power, to remind that jokes with her are bad.

Volcanoes exist in almost all points of our planet. They can be compared with faucets in the surface of the Earth, which periodically open in order to release the energy accumulated in the depths. Some volcanoes erupt, die out and disappear from the face of the Earth, while others can awaken and re-erupt.

The eruption of a volcano is a grandiose spectacle, which many aspire to capture. Photos and videos of volcanic eruptions fascinate and frighten at the same time. You can imagine what people felt, who in reality turned out to be 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 entire history of human society.

Vesuvius is located in Italy, near Naples. In the entire history, he erupted about 90 times. The most powerful eruption occurred in August 79 AD, when several cities, including Pompeii, were erased from the ground.

The erupting Vesuvius threw a huge cloud of ash to a 20-kilometer altitude, and the hot lava poured down, burying the city streets, buildings and residents.

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

After this, 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 died.

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

Unzen

Unzen is an active volcano located in Japan. The eruption with the largest human victims 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 Unzen, as a result of which more than two thousand houses were destroyed.

Interesting fact. During the eruption of Unzen there is no hot lava. Down from the slopes of the volcano rush streams of stones, ash and volcanic gases, heated to 800? С.

Tambora

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

He began to wake up in 1812, releasing streams of smoke from the crater. And on April 5, 1815, the volcano awoke finally, and the eruption began. Five days later, flowing lava covered all the slopes of the volcano. Soon it was joined by high-temperature streams of volcanic gases and stones. All this destructive force rushed down to the sea, destroying the villages standing on its way. Within a radius of one hundred kilometers from Tambor, 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 gave rise to a tsunami. As a result, 90,000 people died, many animals and all the vegetation of the island was destroyed.

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

Krakatau

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

On May 20, 1883, smoke began to hover over him, and on August 27, four explosions thundered, almost completely destroying the island. Their strength was 200 thousand times greater than the Hiroshima bombing.

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

Mon pele

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

A weak eruption happened in 1851, and then the volcano subsided for several decades. He began to wake up in the early spring of 1902, but the residents did not pay attention to it, believing that, as before, the volcano would only scare them and fall asleep again. But on May 8 of the same year, Mont Pele threw away 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 hide on the ships moored at the pier, but they, too, were burned.

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

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

In the history of a huge number of volcanic eruptions. Some eruptions brought with it the destruction and death of a large number of people. Online magazine Factinteres   tells about the 5 largest volcanic eruptions in the history of mankind.

Vesuvius August 24, 79 AD

The history of the city of Pompeii is known by many. It was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that led to that catastrophe. In addition to Pompeii, 3 more cities disappeared - Oplontia, Stbia and Herculaneum.

Most of the population of these cities still managed to escape. Many have suffered not so much from lava, as from sulfur dioxide. The total number of dead was approximately 2000 people. There was so much ash and pumice stone that the ruins of the city were found only in the 16th century.

Etna, 1669

It is Etna volcano that is currently the highest active volcano in all of Europe. About once every 150 years, this volcano destroyed a settlement near itself. However, the high activity of the volcano does not stop the Sicilians and they each time come back to life near the volcano.

In 1669, the volcano Etna erupted for six months. As a result, the outlines of the island have become unrecognizable. For example, the Ursino castle before the eruption was located right on the seashore. After the eruption, the castle was 2.5 kilometers from the coast! There were no dead in that eruption, but the volcano destroyed more than 25,000 houses.

Tambora, 1815

The eruption of 1815 made people around the world suffer. The fact is that the volcano Tabora erupted during the eruption, throwing about 2 million tons of debris. The island of Sumbawa, on which the volcano was located, was completely sunk. The victims at that time were more than 10 thousand people, but this was not the end.

Due to a powerful explosion, a tsunami was formed, whose height reached 9 meters. The nearest islands were completely erased, and the inhabitants died. But this was not the end. A powerful explosion provoked the wreckage to fall to a height of 40 kilometers, where they turned into dust, which flew without problems from the atmosphere into the stratosphere. This dust began to circle around the planet and reflect the rays of the sun. As a result, all the people of the planet suffered, because lack of sun affected the amount of food grown, people's health, etc. Some historians consider the eruption of Tambor volcano to be the most destructive in the whole history of mankind.

Mont Pele, 1902

In 1902, on the morning of May 8, 4 powerful explosions of the Mont Pele volcano were heard. A huge amount of lava rushed sharply to the nearest port on the island of Martinique. In addition, burning ash covered the settlement. As a result, more than 36,000 people died. Only 2 people were able to survive.

Ruiz, 1985

Until 85, the Ruiz volcano was considered inactive for a long time. However, on November 13 in 1985, Colombians heard several violent explosions. Specialists of the most powerful explosion was estimated at 10 megatons. A column of dust and ash rose 9 kilometers up.

The greatest destruction of the Ruiz volcano suffered the city of Armero. In just 10 minutes the city was completely destroyed. The number of victims was more than 20,000 people. In addition, oil pipelines, roads and power lines were damaged. Because of the eruption, the snow on the tops of the mountains began to conceal and this led to the rivers coming out of the banks.