Mount Vulture () is an

extinct volcano A volcano is a rupture 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 found where tectonic plates a ...

located north of the city Potenza in the Basilicata region (

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

). As a prominent landmark it gave its name to the Vulture region, the most significant viticultural zone in Basilicata growing the DOC wine Aglianico del Vulture. With a height of , it is unique amongst large Italian volcanoes due to its location east of the Apennine mountain range. At the summit is a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

, known as Valle dei Grigi, whose precise origins are disputed.

Volcanic history

The earliest eruptions of the volcano occurred around one million years ago, explosive activity producing

ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surro ...

. The explosive eruption phase finished around 830,000 years before present, when the nature of the activity changed to a mix of pyroclastic and effusive,

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

eruptions which built up the mountain and which have been dated to around 500,000 years ago. One of the explanations advanced for the Valle dei Grigi is that it is the result of the collapse of a sector of the mountain, as occurred during the

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive er ...

and the 1792 eruption of Mount Unzen. The most recent phase involved further lava flows and the growth of lava domes in the Valle dei Grigi, including the formation of two calderas. The most recent activity is thought to have been phreatomagmatic explosions around 40 ka ago which produced maars and small cold surges (pyroclastic surges cooler than 100 °C).

External links

*
Mount Vulture volcano, Italy
" ''Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology'', website by Boris Behncke *

*Crisci G, de Fino M, La Volpe L & Rapisardi L (1983) Pleistocene ignimbrites of Monte Vulture (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Neues Jahrbuch füer Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 12: 731–746. *Guest JE, Duncan AM & Chester DK (1988) Monte Vulture Volcano (Basilicata, Italy): an analysis of morphology and volcaniclastic facies. Bulletin of Volcanology 50: 244–257. *La Volpe L, Patella D, Rapisardi L & Tramacere A (1984) The evolution of the Monte Vulture volcano (Southern Italy): inferences from volcanological, geological and deep dipole electrical soundings data. Journal of Volcanology a Geothermal Research 22: 147–162. *La Volpe L & Principe C (1991) Comments on Guest ''et al.'' (1988) and Reply by Guest ''et al.''. Bulletin of Volcanology 53: 222–229.
Stratovolcanoes of Italy Campanian volcanic arc Calderas of Italy Maars of Italy Extinct volcanoes Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Mountains of Basilicata Mountains of the Apennines One-thousanders of Italy {{Basilicata-geo-stub

Volcanic history

See also

External links

Further reading