Vulcano

Vulcano is a small volcanic island (38.4°N, 15°E)in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 25 km north of Sicily and the southernmost of the Aeolian Islands. It is 21 square kilometres in area, rises to 499 metres, and contains several volcanic centres, including one of four active non-submarine volcanos in Italy and the formerly separate islet of Vulcanello.

For the Romans, the island of Vulcano was the habitation of the fire god Vulcan. The Greek fire god Hephaestos maintained his chthonic forge on the island of Lesbos. Vulcano has contributed the word for volcano in most modern languages.

The volcanic activity in the region is largely the result of the northward-moving African Plate meeting the Eurasian Plate. There are three volcanic centres on the island:

• At the southern end of the island are old stratovolcano cones, Monte Aria (500 m), Monte Saraceno (481 m) and Monte Luccia (188 m), which have partially collapsed into the Il Piano Caldera.

• The most recently active centre is the Gran Cratere at the top of the Fossa cone, the cone having grown in the Lentia Caldera in the middle of the island, and has had at least 7 major eruptions in the last 6000 years.

• At the north of the island is Vulcanello, 123 metres high, and is connected to the rest of it by an isthmus which is flooded in bad weather. It emerged from the sea during an eruption in 183 BC as a separate islet. Occasional eruptions from its three cones with both pyroclastic flow deposits and lavas occurred from then until 1550, the last eruption creating a narrow isthmus connecting it to Vulcano. Vulcano has been quiet since the eruption of the Fossa cone on August 3 1888 to 1890, which deposited about 5 metres of pyroclastic material on the summit. The style of eruption seen on the Fossa cone is called a Vulcanian eruption, being the explosive emission of pyroclastic fragments of viscous magmas caused by the high viscocity preventing gases from escaping easily.

Until the end of the 19th Century the principle activity on the island was the mining of sulphur and alum. Around 700 people live on the island, mainly deriving their income from tourism. It is a few minutes hydrofoil ride from Lipari and has several hotels and cafes, the important attractions being the beaches, hot springs and sulphur mud baths.

External links

• Satellite image of Vulcano
• Photos and explanatory captions
• Live webcam of Vulcano - click on "Webcam"

See also: Vulcano, 1550, 1888, 1890, 19th Century, Active Italian volcanoes, Aeolian Islands, Alum, Ancient Rome, August 3