Information on the volcanoes on the map

Bezymianny
This Russian stratovolcano, which is on a convergent margin, has begun to come to life in the last year. The volcano is located in the far north of Russia, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. A large eruption in 1956 resembled the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

Katmai
Katmai, located in a remote area of Alaska, is a stratovolcano on a convergent margin. One of the largest eruptions of historic times occurred at Katmai in 1912. This eruption, considered the largest of this century, released thirty times as much magma as the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Scientists in the 1916 expedition to Katmai found that, even four years later, deposits from the eruption were hot enough to boil water.

Kilauea
Kilauea is a shield volcano that lies over a hotspot. It is one of the most continuously active volcanoes in the world, tending to erupt every two to three years. Kilauea's eruptions are not explosive. Kilauea is in the Hawaiian Islands, a chain that was formed as a plate moved over a hotspot.

Pelee
Pelee is located on the island of Martinique in the West Indies. This stratovolcano erupted on May 8, 1902. A pyroclastic flow raced toward the town of St. Pierre at a speed of about 160 kilometers per hour, making it almost impossible for residents to escape. 28,000 people were killed. One of the eruption's two lucky survivors was a prisoner who was locked in a windowless jail cell.

Popocatépetl
Popocatépetl is located 55 kilometers from Mexico City. The volcano is a stratovolcano on a convergent margin. Called "Popo" for short, it was dormant for decades. This inactivity ended on December 21, 1994, with minor ash eruptions. Some past eruptions of this volcano have been explosive. More than one million people live within 35 kilometers of the steep-sided volcano, and many towns and cities would be threatened by ash if a large eruption occurred. Popocatépetl means "smoking mountain" in Aztec language.

Santorini
Santorini, located in Greece is a stratovolcano on a convergent margin. Santorini produced a huge eruption in about 1640 B.C. that blew apart the volcano, leaving a few remnant islands. This may have contributed to the demise of the Minoan empire and is possibly the origin of the Atlantis legend. Ash from the eruption fell in Turkey and even as far as Egypt. To find out more about how Santorini might be linked to the Atlantis legend, visit Volcano World's FAQ.

Surtsey
Surtsey is located on a divergent margin, off the coast of Iceland. Surtsey appeared from beneath the sea in November 1963. When it began to erupt, sea water mixed explosively with the fluid basalt lava coming out of the volcano's vent. Some parts of the island that were formed from ash are being slowly eroded by the ocean.

Vesuvius
Italy's Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing 15,000 people. It erupted again in 1631, producing lava flows that killed 3,000 people. The volcano, a stratovolcano located on a convergent margin, has been active since the 1631 eruption and produced a minor eruption in 1944. Vesuvius is situated east of Naples and is not the only threat to local residents. The Campi Flegrei caldera, which lies just to the west of Naples and last erupted in 1538, produced ground uplift and earthquakes during the years 1970-72 and 1982-85.

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