Report on Stromboli (Italy) — 10 March-16 March 2010
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 10 March-16 March 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Stromboli (Italy) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 10 March-16 March 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Stromboli
Italy
38.789°N, 15.213°E; summit elev. 924 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
INGV-CT reported strong explosions from Stromboli on 10 March mainly from craters located in the N part of the crater terrace, a flat area in the upper part of Sciara del Fuoco (a depression cutting the NW flank of the volcano). After one of the more powerful explosions, lava flowed over the NW edge of the crater terrace for tens of meters before fragmenting and producing small landslides of hot material that likely reached the sea.
Geological Summary. Spectacular incandescent nighttime explosions at Stromboli have long attracted visitors to the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean" in the NE Aeolian Islands. This volcano has lent its name to the frequent mild explosive activity that has characterized its eruptions throughout much of historical time. The small island is the emergent summit of a volcano that grew in two main eruptive cycles, the last of which formed the western portion of the island. The Neostromboli eruptive period took place between about 13,000 and 5,000 years ago. The active summit vents are located at the head of the Sciara del Fuoco, a prominent scarp that formed about 5,000 years ago due to a series of slope failures which extends to below sea level. The modern volcano has been constructed within this scarp, which funnels pyroclastic ejecta and lava flows to the NW. Essentially continuous mild Strombolian explosions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have been recorded for more than a millennium.