Stromboli ( , ; scn, Struògnuli ) is an island in the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
, off the north coast of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active
volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight
Aeolian Islands, a
volcanic arc
A volcanic arc (also known as a magmatic arc) is a belt of volcanoes formed above a subducting oceanic tectonic plate,
with the belt arranged in an arc shape as seen from above. Volcanic arcs typically parallel an oceanic trench, with the arc lo ...
north of Sicily.
Strabo writes that people believed that this is where
Aeolus lived.
The island, with an area of ,
represents the upper third of the volcano.
Its population was about 500 .
The volcano has erupted many times and is constantly active with minor eruptions, often visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea, giving rise to the island's nickname "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean".
Etymology
Its name is derived from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
name , (Στρογγύλη) which was derived from (, "round"), after the volcano's round, conical appearance when seen from a distance.
Height and shape
Stromboli is an island in the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
, off the north coast of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the three active
volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the seven
Aeolian Islands, a
volcanic arc
A volcanic arc (also known as a magmatic arc) is a belt of volcanoes formed above a subducting oceanic tectonic plate,
with the belt arranged in an arc shape as seen from above. Volcanic arcs typically parallel an oceanic trench, with the arc lo ...
north of Sicily; these islands are also known as the Lipari Islands.
Stromboli stands 926 m (3,038 ft) above sea level,
and over 2,700 m (8,860 ft) on average above the sea floor.
The island's area is .
There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the
Sciara del Fuoco
Sciara del Fuoco is a talus scree or depression located on Stromboli Island in Italy. It runs along the island's northern flank and is bounded by two ridges. It now serves as a major tourist attraction on the island.
Formation
Sciara del Fuo ...
("stream of fire"), a big horseshoe-shaped depression created in the last 13,000 years by several collapses on the northwestern side of the cone. Approximately northeast lies
Strombolicchio
Strombolicchio () is a sea stack of volcanic origin to the northeast of the island of Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands of Italy. Its name in the Sicilian language, ''Struognulicchiu,'' means ''Little Stromboli''.
Geology
Geologically, Stromboli ...
, the
volcanic plug remnant of the original volcano.
Volcano
Mount Stromboli has been in almost continuous
eruption
Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...
for the past 2,000–5,000 years;
its last serious one occurred in 1921.
A pattern of eruption is maintained in which explosions occur at the summit craters, with mild to moderate eruptions of incandescent
volcanic bomb
A volcanic bomb or lava bomb is a mass of partially molten rock (tephra) larger than 64 mm (2.5 inches) in diameter, formed when a volcano ejects viscous fragments of lava during an eruption. Because volcanic bombs cool after they l ...
s, a type of
tephra
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism.
Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they re ...
, at intervals ranging from minutes to hours. This pattern of
Strombolian eruption, as it is known, is also observed at other volcanoes worldwide.
Eruptions from the summit craters typically result in a few short, mild, but energetic bursts, ranging up to a few hundred meters in height, containing ash, incandescent lava fragments and stone blocks. Stromboli's activity is almost exclusively explosive, but lava flows do occur at times when volcanic activity is high: an effusive eruption occurred in
2002, the first in 17 years, and again in 2003, 2007, and 2013–14. Volcanic gas emissions from this volcano are measured by a
multi-component gas analyzer system, which detects pre-eruptive degassing of rising magma, improving
prediction of volcanic activity.
On 3 July 2019, two major explosive events occurred at around 16:46 local time, alongside 20 additional minor explosive events identified by Italy's
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology ( it, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV) is a research institute for geophysics and volcanology
Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, mag ...
. A hiker near the volcano's summit died after being struck by flying debris when the eruption began. Additionally, 6 people suffered minor injuries due to the eruption.
On 28 August 2019, at 10:16 local time, an explosive eruption sent a pyroclastic flow down the volcano’s northern flank and into the sea, where it continued for several hundred meters before collapsing. The resulting
ash column reached a height of .
Settlements
The two villages San Bartolo and San Vincenzo lie in the northeast while the smaller village
Ginostra lies in the southwest.
Administratively, they are one of the ' (unit of a commune and municipality) of
Lipari
Lipari (; scn, Lìpari) is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, southern Italy; it is also the name of the island's main town and ''comune'', which is administratively part of the Metropo ...
,
Messina.
In the early 1900s a few thousand people inhabited the island, but after several waves of emigration the population has numbered a few hundred since the mid-1950s.
The population on the island was about 500 .
In addition to Italian, a derivative of the Sicilian dialect that is called Aeolian is generally spoken on this and the other Aeolian islands.
In popular culture
* In ''
Journey to the Center of the Earth
''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (french: Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated with the variant titles ''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' and ''A Journey into the Interior of the Earth'', is a classic science fiction novel ...
'' (1864) by
Jules Verne, the conclusion of the novel is set on Stromboli.
* Author
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
identified his fictional volcano
Mount Doom in
Mordor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, an ...
with the volcano of Stromboli, according to scholar
Clyde S. Kilby
Clyde Samuel Kilby (26 September 1902, in Johnson City, Tennessee – 18 October 1986, in Columbus, Mississippi) was an American writer and English professor, best known for his scholarship on the Inklings, especially J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lew ...
.
* ''
Stromboli'' (1950), also known as: ''Stromboli, Land of God'', is an Italian-American film set on Stromboli, directed by
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...
and starring
Ingrid Bergman.
*
Rising Appalachia
Rising Appalachia is an American Appalachian folk music group led by multi-instrumentalist sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith. Leah also performs as a solo artist. Based between Atlanta, New Orleans, and the Asheville area of North Carolina, the ...
's 2015 song "Stromboli" was written on and titled after the island. The studio version appears on ''
Wider Circles'' (2015) and a live version appears on ''
Alive
Alive may refer to:
*Life
Books, comics and periodicals
* ''Alive'' (novel), a 2015 novel by Scott Sigler
* '' Alive: The Final Evolution'', a 2003 shonen manga by Tadashi Kawashima and Adachitoka
* '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', ...
''.
See also
*
List of islands of Italy
This is a list of islands of Italy. There are over 400 islands in Italy, including islands in the Mediterranean Sea (including the marginal seas: Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, Libyan Sea, Ligurian Sea, Sea of Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea, and inland is ...
References
External links
*
Information about Stromboli and on its seismic monitoring network (italian)BBC documentary Island of FireScuola In Mezzo Al MareSchool in the Middle of the Sea documentary (2019)
{{Authority control
Stratovolcanoes of Italy
Active volcanoes
VEI-3 volcanoes
Strombolian eruptions
Mountains of Italy under 1000 metres