The Caribbean contains numerous tropical beaches and beautiful coral reefs.
However, many of these islands also contain active volcanoes.
One of these volcanoes, Mount Pelee, was responsible for the deadliest volcanic eruption of the
entire 20th century.
Now, in 2021, this volcano is once again showing signs of unrest.
This video will discuss this volcano, and mention what its future hazards are.
Mount Pelee is located near the northwest tip on the island of Martinique.
Specifically, it is 7 kilometers south of the city of Grand'Rivière.
Mount Pelee began forming 127,000 years ago, when an eruptive center previously responsible
for the creation of Mount Conil moved southwards.
In the initial series of eruptions, a small volcanic cone was built at the site of the
modern Mount Pelee.
Then, in a subsequent eruption, an unusually large explosion occurred.
Suddenly, the southwestern flank of the volcano collapsed in what is termed a lateral eruption.
This collapse created a large tsunami as a significant volume of rock slid into the ocean.
In the aftermath of this eruption, what remained was a 7.5 kilometer wide volcanic crater.
More importantly, this eruption created a permanent zone of structural weakness in the
southwest flank of Pelee which would impact the majority of its future eruptions.
As a result, two additional major collapses occurred in approximately the same area 25,000
years ago and then again 9,000 years ago.
In the aftermath of the latest collapse, a series of andesite lava domes began growing
at the collapse scar's northeastern edge.
Over the next several thousand years, a series of eruptions occurred in what are now called
"Pelean eruptions".
At first, this type of eruption creates a series of explosions as lava first reached
the surface.
Eventually, these explosions became more numerous until a very large explosion occurred.
Then, instead of a plume of ash shooting into the sky, the weight of the material causes
the pressure to be released very close to the ground thus forming a deadly pyroclastic
flow.
Due to the topography of Mount Pelee, these pyroclastic flows generally were released
in a single direction.
After this explosive phase, a lava dome begins to grow at the site of the eruption.
Eventually, an obelisk of uplifted rock appears in what is called a "lava spine".
Eventually, this collapses, thus generating another series of pyroclastic flows.
Since Martinique was colonized by the French, three eruptions were witnessed from Mount
Pelee but they were all very small in size.
Thus, by 1902, 30,000 people lived in the area of previous collapse scars, and these
residents were completely unaware of how truly dangerous this volcano was.
Then, on April 23rd, a series of powerful explosions began at the summit of Pelee.
Over the next several days, this volcanic activity continued to escalate as now these
explosions ejected bombs of lava and hot ash.
Then, on the morning of May 8th, the largest explosion yet witnessed at Pelee occurred
which formed a giant mushroom cloud.
The energy of the explosion then turned horizontally, thus generating a very large pyroclastic flow
which traveled down the southwestern slopes of the mountain.
Within seconds, this pyroclastic flow reached the populated city of Saint Pierre.
Within seconds, almost the entire population of 28,000 people were wiped out.
In the town, there were only two survivors.
Although this disaster was horrific, it essentially led to the creation of the modern field of
volcanology.
The concept of pyroclastic flows was first identified due to this eruption, leading to
a better understanding of the potential hazards volcanoes can pose.
From 1929 to 1932, Pelee erupted again and constructed a new lava dome on top of the
lava dome formed by the 1902 eruption.
Since then, no additional eruptive activity has occurred.
However, in recent months, increased earthquake activity beneath Pelee has caused the volcano
to be placed on a raised alert status.
Luckily, these earthquakes are still relatively small and are too deep to signal an imminent
volcanic eruption.
As such, I do NOT expect the volcano to erupt anytime soon.
If the event that Pelee suddenly was to erupt again, the entire northern section of the
island would need to be evacuated.
In this map, I have labeled risk areas where red is the highest risk and green is the lowest
risk.
I hope that you enjoyed this video.
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