THE FEROCITY AND DESTRUCTIVENESS OF VOLCANO!

EXPLOSION

ERUPTION

Hawaiian volcano

1. Yellowstone 

The Yellowstone Caldera is the volcanic caldera located in Yellowstone National Park in the United States, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano. Yellowstone lies over a hotspot where light, hot, molten mantle rock rises toward the surface.Over the past 18 million years or so, this hotspot has generated a succession of violent eruptions and less violent floods of basltic lava. Yellowstone Supervolcano is the volcanic field which produced the latest three supereruptions from the Yellowstone hotspot; it also produced one additional smaller eruption, thereby creating West Thumb Lake 174,000 years ago.

2. Mt. Saint Helens, Washington

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused an eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft (2,950 m) to 8,365 ft (2,550 m)

3. Mt. Etna, Sicily

Mt. Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano on the European continent, currently standing 3,329 m (10,922 ft) high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about half a million years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily.

4. Mt. Vesuvius, Italy -Pompeeii

Vesuvius is an active volcano in mainland Europe, and has produced some of the continent's largest volcanic eruptions. Located on Italy's west coast, it overlooks the Bay and City of Naples. Vesuvius is part of the Campanian volcanic arc, a line of volcanoes that formed over a subduction zone created by the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates. This subduction zone stretches the length of the Italian peninsula, and is also the source of other volcanoes like Mount Etna. Though the volcano's last eruption was in 1944, it still represents a great danger to the cities that surround it, especially the busy metropolis of Naples.  Ash, mud and rocks from this eruption buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii is famous for the casts the hot ash formed around victims of the eruptions. The unfortunate people suffocated on ash in the air, which then covered them and preserved amazing details of their clothing and faces. 

Deadliest Volcanic Eruptions

Rank Volcano Year Deaths 1. Tambora, Indonesia 1815 92,000 2. Krakatau, Indonesia 1883 36,417 3. Mount Pelee, Martinique 1902 29,025 4. Ruiz, Colombia 1985 25,000 5. Unzen, Japan 1792 14,300 6. Laki, Iceland 1783 9,350 7. Kelut, Indonesia 1919 5,110 8. Galunggung, Indonesia 1882 4,011 9. Vesuvius, Italy 1631 3,500 10. Vesuvius, Italy 79 3,360

Based on data in Volcanic Hazards: A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions by Russell J. Blong (Academic Press, 1984).

Source: Volcano World, University of North Dakota.