Report on Stromboli (Italy) — 21 August-27 August 2019
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 21 August-27 August 2019
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2019. Report on Stromboli (Italy) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 21 August-27 August 2019. 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 reported that a paroxysmal explosive event at Stromboli began at 1216 on 28 August with a series of explosions likely from the Area C-S (South Central crater area). The event of strongest intensity occurred at 1217, generating an ash plume that rose more than 2 km above the crater area and a pyroclastic flow that traveled down the Sciara del Fuoco and several hundred meters out to sea. The report noted a similarity in intensity of the eruption to the 3 July paroxysmal event based on the seismic data.
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.