VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 20053, 19 December 1928, Page 10

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

FIERY PATH Of DEATH The eruption of Mount Etna, which, as reported in our cable messages, lias done enormous damage to tho towns and villages in the vicinity._ and lias caused considerable loss of life, is the most serious volcanic outbreak that lias occurred lor several years in any part of tho world. But, though most of tho world’s volcanoes arc extinct, or havo reached tho solfatara stage of emitting only gases, there is seldom a year passes without sonic manifestations of volcanic activity. Mr Charles F. Tallinn!, writing in tho New York ‘ Times ’ on tho subject of volcanoes some weeks before the outbreak of Mount Etna, declared: “The present year is typical of those in which, though lacking events of tho lirst magnitude, the volcanic programme is nevertheless one of sustained interest. Ometepe, one of Nicaragua's veteran spoolers, broke loose in ’.January. Tho same month, and again in March, the Mediterranean volcano Santorin continued a scries of outbreaks begun in the summer of 192(3. January likewise brought the earliest news of one of the previous year’s upheavals—Falcon island a volcanic jack-iu-tiic-box in the South Seas, had reappeared above-.the water alter long submergence, heralding its return to the map by earthquakes in surrounding isles and by a great outDouring of smoke. “ Asamayama, in Japan, with a long list of eruptions to its discredit, including one of the most terrible in history, was the secno of a moderate outbreak in February. The lava flows are reported to have caused great damage, but there was no loss of life. “In June Mayon, the graceful volcanic cone in Southern Luzon, one of the Phillipino Islands, suddenly awoke from a deep sleep of twenty-eight years. A spectacular eruption lasted there for a fortnight. Torrents of lava streamed down the mountainside, explosions rent tho air, daylight was blotted out by a pail of smoke, villages were showered with hot ashes, consternation reigned. A second outbreak, oven more violent, occurred late in July, but there wore no casualties. “ June brought news of a mild outbreak at Akutan, in the Aleutian Islands, fn August an eruption took placo in that hotbed of volcanic activity, the Dutch East Indies, hut at a spot not previously known as the site of a live volcano. "A mountain named Rokatinda, on the islet of Paloe, off the north coast of Flores, blew up on August 4 and 5. Several villages were wiped out; 1,000 natives perished, and many more were injured.” WORLD’S RECORD ERUPTION'. When in January last it was reported that Krakatoa was displaying signs of activity there was keen interest among scientists, and considerable anxiety among the residents of tho towns in its vicinity. Krakatoa. a volcanic island in the Straits of Sundn, between Java and Sumatra, is the scene of tho greatest and most disastrous volcanic explosion within living memory. and one of the most disastrous recorded in the history of the world. From January to March of the present year Krakatoa was reported to be shooting columns of steam and dust hundreds of feet into the air. It was feared that these symptoms of activity were premonitory of a catastrophe similar to that which occurred fortyfive years ago. Previous to the eruption of 1883 Krakatoa was an island about five miles in length, and three miles broad in its widest part. The highest cone on this volcanic island was called Rakata, and was 2,623 ft above sea level. Eruptions began on Krakatoa on May 20, 1883, after a period of quiescence of over 200

years. Booming sounds like distant artillery were heard at Batavia, a hundred miles away, and on the following morning the captain of a ship whicn passed the island saw clouds of steam, dust, and pumice being ejected from the volcano to a height estimated at seven miles. The eruptions continued for fourteen weeks, with occasional periods of slackening. Parties of sight-seers from Batavia visited the island in order to see the volcano in eruption. It was regarded as improbable that the eruption would become dangerous. •But on August 2(5, the activity of the volcano rapidly increased. Clouds of black vapour wore emitted, hiding the island from view, ami rising to a height of seventeen miles. Loud explosions were heard, and a rain of pumice began to fall. The explosions grew louder, (lie size and density ol tho cloud increased, completely obscuring the sun and turning day into night. The cloud above the eralcr was frequently lit up by (lashes ol fire from tho volcano. “ By 10 o’clock on the morning of Monday, August 27. the rehearsals were over and tho performance began.]’ wrote tho lute Sir Robert Ball, an eminent British scientist, in describing the great eruption. “ An overture consisting of two or three introductory explosions was succeeded by a terrible convulsion, which loro away a largo part of the island of Krakatoa and scattered it to the winds of heaven. In that final effort all records of previous explosions on this earth were com- I petely broken. This supreme effort it was which produced the mightiest noise that so far as we can ascertain has ever been heard on this globe.” THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND LIVES LOST. In the final explosion nearly six square miles of the island of Krakatoa were blown away, leaving a chasm lar below sea level, into which the watcis rushed. The resulting disturbance ol the ocean surface, combined with the impact of enormous masses of falling material, sot up gigantic waves, which swept over the low-lying shores of (lie Straits of Suuda. Towns ami villages wore engulfed, and more than 3(5,000 people were drowned. Ju some places the sides of hills were washed by the rising waters to a height of Holt above the normal level of the sen. Enormous quantities of pumice were hurled into tho air and 101 l into (he sea, where it accumulated over a large area to a height of 4ft or stt. The explosion was heard all over (lie Dutch East Indies and the Philippines, and in parts of Australia, 2,000 miles from, the scene. In Batavia, 100 miles distant; tho noise was deafening. I'rom 7 a,in. until 1 p.rn. tho town was almost in complete darkness, caused by the clouds of dust discharged into the air by the volcano. REMARKABLE EFFECTS. “Tho Krakatoa eruption had a number of far-reaching effect.s that have been the subject of elaborate scientific discussion,” states Mr Talman, in his article in the New York 1 Times.’ “ Jn- ■ audible air waves caused by the explosion and registered by barographs in different parts of the world actually made the circuit of the globe--and not merely once, but four times. The water waves that devastated neighbouring shores gradually faded ns they spread over the ocean, but did nob disappear until they had travelled many thousands of miles; they were recorded by a tide gauge at Cape Horn, and there were doubtful records of them in the English Channel. “ The most memorable of all the distant effects of this eruption were those due to tho vast quantities of fine dust discharged into the upper atmosphere. This dust was spread abroad by the winds at a height of probably between thirty and forty miles above the earth until, within a few weeks, a thin veil of dust enveloped the greater part rt

the globe. The dust hung in the atmosphere for two or three years, causing various optical effects that attracted universal attention —lurid skies, gorgeous sunset glows, prolonged twilights, green and blue suns, silvery clouds shining through the summer nights, and a broad circular band around the sun known as ‘Bishop’s ring.’ Other great volcanic explosions had produced similar effects, bat none quite so striking or so widely observed as those, that followed Krakatoa’s historic upheaval.

DESTRUCTION OF ST. PIERRE. A more recent volcanic disaster than the eruption of Krakaloa was the destruction of the town of St. Pierre, on the French island of Martinique, in the West Indies, on May 8, 1902. St. Pierre had been built on the lowest slope of Mont Pcle, which rose to a height of 4,428 ft at tho north end of the island. Mont Pole had been an inactive volcano for more than fifty years, but on April 20, 1902, steam was seen issuing from its crater, and loud noises were heard. An almost continuous .shower of dust and ashes fell on St. Pierre and the neighbouring country. On May 5 a stream of mud rushed down a valley which reached the sea about a mile north of St. Pierre. The discharge of steam and ashes from the volcano increased in volume, during the next two days, and about 8 o’clock on the morning of May 8 Mont Pole seemed tn split in two. A blast of steam and hot ashes shot down the mountain side in the direction of St. Pierre, carrying death and destruction in its path. The streets were thronged with people on their way to church, Tor it was Ascension Day. With the exception of a negro prisoner in an underground cell not one person in the track of the devastating blast escaped death. They were scorched by the intense beat, choked by the fiery dust, and scalded by the steam, in a few minutes more than 30.0U0 people perished. A few hundreds who were outside the patli of the deadly blast escaped. Only one of the many ships in the harbour escaped destruction. This was the British ship Boddam, wliioh had just arrived with steam up; but some of hoj l crew wore killed and all were scorched. Fires broke out in many parts of the city and destroyed the buildings. On the previous day a similar disaster. hut on a .smaller scale, had occurred on the neighbouring island of St, Vincent, where the volcano Soutriere, which had been quiescent for ninety years, had broken out into activity. A Jake had formed in tho crater, and when the eruptions began the lake was transformed into a sea of mud, which poured down the slopes of tho mountain. About 2 p.m. on May 7 a huge black cloud hurst from the summit, and swept down the sides of the mountain to the sea. It carried .scorching hot dust, an dfew of those who breathed 'it survived. The loss of life reached ],600.