The first, South Vulcano center, began at about 120 kA by building a trachybasaltic to trachyandesitic stratovolcano where pyroclastic fall and flow deposits constitute only a minor portion. Finally, to the north is the already mentioned Vulcanello complex (2.1 kA).Īctivity at Vulcano began a mere 150,000 years ago and is divided into four major stages. To the NE of the Fossa cone an extrusion is obvious but no date has been given for it (14 kA Punta Roja lava flow?). 98-97 kA) to the south, the Lentia Complex (15.5 kA) with the Lentia or Fossa Caldera (16 -13 kA) in which the new La Fossa cone (~6 to 5 kA) grew. The visual appearance of Vulcano is very suggestive with the most ancient centre of activity, the collapsed stratovolcano “South Vulcano” (ca. Geology of Vulcano (Gioncada, Mazzuoli, Bisson & Pareschi 2003) But not to worry, renewed activity will almost certainly be preceded by irrefutable signs of unrest well in advance of any potentially devastating event.įig 2. Today, Vulcano is home to some 500 year-round inhabitants while in the summer, the population grows to about 10,000.
#Kelir mountain iceland series#
In addition to its theological usefulness, Vulcano provided the Romans with wood, alum and sulphur, activities continued as the main produce of the island until the last, or rather, most recent series of eruptions of 1888-90 ruined the mining works. This was volcanic creation of new land where only sea had been before and must have been considered by the ancient world as very significant proof of divine existence and omnipotence. The eruptions went on for more than a century, thus were contemporary with Varro, and formed a new island Vulcanello. Perhaps more suggestive is the fact that a new eruptive centre formed in the strait between Vulcano and Lipari with the first recorded eruption occurring in 183 or 123 BC. He mentions that king Titus Tatius (d.748 BC) dedicated a series of altars to deities among which Vulcan is mentioned. The roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116 – 27 BC) cites the Annales Maximus, which go back to at least 400 BC, as the source of the first mention of Vulcanus.
Of course the Romans, the greatest copyright infringers ever produced by mankind incorporated the Greek Pantheon as their own religion and mythology. He was also the weaponsmith of the Gods and crafted, amongst other things, the thunderbolts of Zeus. Hephaistos, the lame son of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Hellenistic Pantheon, was the god of blacksmiths, artisans, craftsmen, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. One of the amazing photographs taken by the incomparable Marco Fulle, often reproduced on the Internet without giving credit to this wonderful photographer. At the end, we also reproduce a description of past eruptions from the current crater, Fossa, based on an article by Boris Behncke and reproduced by permission.įig 1. It was written by Henrik in 2013, and is well worth resurrecting. The following post is one from the archives. Luckily this is after the summer and the height of the tourist season. And now the alert level has been raised to yellow. The location of this community so close to the crater has made Vulcano into the second most dangerous volcano in Italy, after only Vesuvius. The settled community has grown from 250 to 450 since 1984, and in August there may now be 12,000 tourists each day (Behncke, private communication). It is quite dangerous for a village to be located so close to an active volcano.” During the summer the population of this town swells to more than 10,000. The village of Porto with a population of about 250 inhabitants lies within this zone to the north of the main cone. The major effects of all activity at Fossa are confined to within 2 km of the vent. “A volcanic hazard exists where there is the potential for loss of life or property as the direct result of volcanic activity. During the long repose period, a settlement has grown from a few houses to villas and hotels. The volcano helpfully called ‘Vulcano’, one of the islands, north of Sicilyhas give its name to all volcanoes in the world. The island of Vulcano (source: wikipedia)
0 kommentar(er)
