STROMBOLI VOLCANO: Bringing you constant eruptions for nearly 2000 years!This photo shows yet anothe

STROMBOLI VOLCANO: Bringing you constant eruptions for nearly 2000 years!This photo shows yet another spectacular image of Stromboli in eruption, taken on January 28, 2013.The peak of the volcano has an altitude of 924 m, and its base is 1000 m below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The steep conical volcano with its frequent lightshows has been dubbed “The Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.”Stromboli is part of the same volcanic arc as Mount Etna and the “mother of all volcanoes”– Vulcano. Beneath the Ionian Sea, the African Plate is being subducted below the Eurasian plate, and when Africa reaches depths sufficient to melt, magma is produced which works its way up to the surface as volcanic eruptions. In the case of Stromboli, the lava is rich in potassium, implying some rather complex processes that modifies the lava composition en route to the surface, such as reacting with rocks within the mantle source area and/or precipitation and extraction of minerals from the magma that tend to leave it relatively enriched in potassium. Nothing is ever simple in the volcanic world; the history of Stromboli goes back 200,000 years, and its present stratiform phase began ~150,000 years ago, with several caldera collapses as recent as 5,000 to 10,000 years in the past.One reason that Stromboli eruptions are so frequent and impressive is that they are, well, “Stromboli-type eruptions,” a classification given to all similar volcanic activity worldwide. Stromboli-type eruptions are frequent, minor explosive eruptions where concentrations of gas-rich lava (“slugs”) rise through denser magma-filled conduits until they reach the surface where the sudden pressure release of these gasses causes a spectacular burst… BOOM!: bits and small bombs of lava are thrown into the air, the eruptions look like fireworks.Other wondrous things about the Stromboli Volcano:–Jules Verne fans will recognize it as the volcano where the intrepid explorers Axel and Otto Lidenbrock exited their subterranean investigation of the “Center of the Earth.”–Tolkien fans might recognize it as the inspiration for Mount Doom in Mordor.–Pizza fans… well, you know who you are and you know what a Stromboli pizza is and I know this is the reason you read this post was in hopes of a recipe…Annie RPhoto by Tom Pfeiffer courtesy www.volcanodiscovery.comMore information on the island and its volcano:http://geology.com/volcanoes/stromboli/http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0101-04%3Dhttp://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/volcano/geol/geo4-en.htmlhttp://petrology.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/3/425 -- source link

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