A column of ash and steam rises above a new submarine vent off the western coast of Fayal Island in early October 1957. Horizontally traveling base surges form a ring at the base of the eruption column. Explosive eruptions began on September 27 and formed a small island that eventually was joined to the main island, partially burying the Capelinhos lighthouse, which is visible on the center shoreline (bottom). Lava effusion was continuous for the last five months of the 13-month eruption.

Photo by U.S. Air Force, 1957 (published in Green and Short, 1971).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license terms.

Keywords: eruption | ash plume | ash | lava water interaction | explosive eruption | plume | base surge | pyroclastic density current (PDC) | pyroclastic surge

Fayal