Volcanic eruption
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A volcanic eruption occurs when material is expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure. Several types of volcanic eruptions have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous
Some of the eruptive structures formed during volcanic activity (counterclockwise): a Plinian eruption column, Hawaiian pahoehoe flows, and a lava arc from a Strombolian eruption
Ropey pahoehoe lava from Kilauea, Hawaiʻi
An example of the lava arcs formed during Strombolian activity. This image is of Stromboli itself.
Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea erupting
Plinian eruption
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Plinian eruptions or Vesuvian eruptions are volcanic eruptions characterized by their similarity to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum and
1822 artist's impression of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79, depicting what the AD 79 eruption may have looked like, by the English geologist George Julius Poulett Scrope. Lightning is depicted around the rising column of ash and gas.
A stone pine, the type of tree used by Pliny the Younger to describe the eruption
Eruption cloud from Redoubt Volcano on 21 April 1990 as viewed to the west from the Kenai Peninsula, more than 60 km (37 mi) from the volcano's summit
April 2015, subplinian eruption of Calbuco