A somma volcano, also known as a sommian, is a

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

that has been partially filled by a new central

cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

. The type is named after Mount Somma ("Summit"), a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

with a summit caldera in which the upper cone of

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...

has grown. Other examples of somma volcanoes can be found on Russia's

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

and the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

, stretching south from Kamchatka to

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, Japan. Some examples of somma volcanoes are the following: * Africa **

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...

(

Arusha Region Arusha Region () is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions and is located in the northeast of the country. The region's capital and largest city is the city of Arusha. The region is bordered by Kajiado County and Narok C ...

, Tanzania) ** Pico do Fogo ( Fogo Island, Cape Verde) ** Piton de la Fournaise (

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

, France) ** Teide, Pico Viejo, Montaña Blanca, and Las Canadas Crater (

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, Spain) * Americas ** Cosigüina (

Chinandega Chinandega () is a city and the departmental seat of Chinandega department in Nicaragua. It is also the administrative centre of the surrounding municipality of the same name. It is Nicaragua's 2nd most important city (economy) and 6th largest ...

, Nicaragua) ** Tecapa (

Usulután Department Usulután (; from the Nawat language, meaning "city of the ocelots") is a Departments of El Salvador, department of El Salvador in the southeast of the country (Lenca region). The capital is Usulután. Created on June 22, 1865, it is El Salvado ...

, El Salvador) **

Mount Mazama Mount Mazama ( Klamath: ''Tum-sum-ne'') is a complex volcano in the western U.S. state of Oregon, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. The volcano is in Klamath County, in the southern Cascades, north of the Oregon– ...

(

Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the Western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

) and Wizard Island (

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States) ** Mount St. Helens and associated

lava domes In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow Extrusive rock, extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6 ...

, ( Washington, United States) * Asia ** Ebeko ( Paramushir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Gunung Baru Jari ( Segara Anak caldera,

Lombok Lombok, is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

, Indonesia) ** Kolokol Group: Kolokol, Berg, Borzov, Trezubetz ( Urup Island, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Anak Krakatoa ( Krakatoa archipelago,

Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait () is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. Etymology The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion of Ja ...

Lampung Lampung, officially the Province of Lampung (; ), is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and a longer border with the provi ...

, Indonesia): a partially submerged nested somma volcano (with a central cone within a caldera which is itself within a larger caldera). ** Mount Batur (

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

) ** Krenitsyn Peak ( Tao-Rusyr caldera, Onekotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Medvezhya (

Iturup Island Iturup (; ), also historically known by #Names, other names, is an island in the Kuril Archipelago separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. The town of Kurilsk, administrative center of Kurilsky District, is located roughly mi ...

, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Milna ( Simushir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Pinatubo (

Central Luzon Central Luzon (; ; ; ; ), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines. The region comprises seven provinces: Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga (with its capital, San Fernando City serving as the re ...

, Philippines) **

Taal Volcano Taal Volcano (; ) is a large caldera filled by Taal Lake in the Philippines. Located in the province of Batangas about south of Manila, the volcano is the second most List of active volcanoes in the Philippines, active volcano in the country ...

(

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( ), is a first class province of the Philippines located in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Calabarzon region. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,908,494 people, making ...

, Philippines) ** Tengger caldera (

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

, Indonesia) ** Tondano caldera (

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is mainly located on the Minahasa Peninsula of the island of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia, but also includes various small archipel ...

, Indonesia) **

Sakurajima Sakurajima (, ) is an active composite volcano, stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsula. It is the most active vo ...

( Aira caldera,

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

, Japan) ** Tyatya ( Kunashir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Urataman ( Simushir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia) ** Zarechny (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia) * Europe **

Alban Hills The Alban Hills () are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio. The high Monte Cavo forms a highly visible peak in the centre of the caldera, but the highest point is ...

and Monte Cavo (

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, Italy) **

Santorini caldera Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 kilometers north of Crete in Greece. Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consisting of Santorini (known as Thera in antiquity) ...

and Nea Kameni (

Santorini Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...

South Aegean The South Aegean (, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the Cyclades and Dodecanese island groups in the central and southeastern Aegean Sea. Administration The South Aegean region was established in ...

, Greece): a partially submerged somma volcano **

Mount Pico Mount Pico () is a currently dormant stratovolcano located on Pico Island, in the mid-Atlantic archipelago of the Azores. It is the highest mountain in Portugal, at above sea level, and is one of the highest Atlantic mountains; it is more than ...

(

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, Portugal) **

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...

and Mount Somma (

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, Italy) **

Vulcano Vulcano () or Vulcan is a small volcanic island belonging to Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about north of Sicily and located at the southernmost end of the seven Aeolian Islands. The island is known for its volcanic activity and contains severa ...

and associated calderas (

Aeolian Islands The Aeolian Islands ( ; ; ), sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group ( , ) after their largest island, are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, said to be named after Aeolus, the mythical ruler of ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, Italy) * Oceania ** Mount Gharat (

Gaua Gaua (formerly known as ''Santa Maria Island'') is the largest and second most populous of the Banks Islands in Torba Province in northern Vanuatu. It covers . Geography Gaua is subject to frequent earthquakes and cyclones. The climate is ...

, Vanuatu)

References

{{Volcanoes Volcanology

See also

References