Famous eruptions

• One of the biggest ever eruptions occured 2.2 million years ago in Yellowstone, USA. It poured out enough magma to build half a dozen Mt Fujiyamas.
  
  
• In 1645 BC the Greek island of There erupted, destroying the Minoan city of Akoteri. It may be the origin of the Atlantis myth.
  
  
• On August 27, AD79 the volcano Mt Vesuvius in Italy erupted. It buried the Roman town Pompeii in ash. The remains of Pompeii were discovered in the 18th century, preserved under metres of ash. They provide a remarkable snapshot of ancient Roman life.
  
  
• The eruption of the volcanic island of Krakatoa near Java in 1883 was heard a quarter of the way round the world.
  
  
• In 1815 the eruption of Tambora in Indonesia was 60 - 80 times bigger than the 1980 eruption of Mt Helens. Ash from Tambora filled the sky, making the summer of 1816 cool all around the world.
  
  
• During the eruption of Mt Pelée on Martinique on May 8, 1902, all but two of the 29,000 townpeople of nearby St Perre were killed in a few minutes by scorching flow of gas, ash and cinders.
  
  
• The biggest eruption in the past 50 years was that of Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines in April 1991.