An eruption column consists of hot volcanic ash emitted during an explosive volcanic eruption. The ash forms a column rising many kilometres into the air above the peak of the volcano. In the most explosive eruptions, the eruption column may rise over 40 km, penetrating the stratosphere. Stratospheric injection of aerosols by volcanoes is a major cause of short-term climate change.
A common occurrence in explosive eruptions is for column collapse to occur. In this case, the eruption column is too dense to be lifted high into the air by air convection, and instead falls down the flanks of the volcano to form a pyroclastic flow or surge.
Read more about Eruption Column: Formation, Structure, Column Heights
Famous quotes containing the words eruption and/or column:
“I have done my fiddling so long under Vesuvius that I have almost forgotten to play, and can only wait for the eruption and think it long of coming. Literally no man has more wholly outlived life than I. And still it’s good fun.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
“I stand on top
of our back steps and breathe the rich air—
a mother skunk with her column of kittens swills the garbage pail.
She jabs her wedge-head in a cup
of sour cream, drops her ostrich tail,
and will not scare.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)