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This is the most violent type of all the gas-cloud eruptions. It is named after a famous historical figure, Pliny the Elder, who was killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy in 79 AD. This eruption also destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Present-day Naples lies at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.
In plinian type eruption the gases are more violently erupted than in the Pelean type, and they shoot up into the air in a giant gas and ash column. Ash from this kind of eruption can be carried by high-level winds and may remain in the air for months or years.
Mount Saint Helens:
anatomy of a violent eruption
Mount Saint Helens was, until 1980, widely regarded as one of the most perfectly shaped conical volcanoes in the world. It rose from the Cascade Mountains in a beautifully symmetrical cone that was topped by a permanent snowfield and glaciers. Its summit was 2950 metres high.
Geologists investigating Mount Saint Helens found evidence that the volcano had erupted at least 20 times in the previous 4500 years, and that its last important
(Above) Ash from the Mount Pinotubo, Philippines, Plinian eruption of 1991.
(Below) The Plinian type of eruption. Ash is the dominant form of material ejected from Plinian volcanoes, spreading out to blanket a large area of the downwind landscape.
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