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1631 Mount Vesuvius vs. 1783 Laki and Grimsvoetn -...
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1631 Mount Vesuvius vs 1783 Laki and Grimsvoetn

1631 Mount Vesuvius
1783 Laki and Grimsvoetn
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1631 Mount Vesuvius

Total costsN/A
Deaths 3360

Informations

In December 1631, Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupted. The eruption began on 16 December 1631 and culminated the day after. The Volcanic Explosivity Index was VEI-5, and it was a Plinian eruption that buried many villages under the resulting lava flows. It is estimated that between 3000 and 6000 people were killed by the eruption, making it the highest death toll for a volcanic disaster in the Mediterranean in the last 1800 years. The 1631 eruption was considered to be of minor proportions regarding its eruptive magnitude and erupted volumes compared to the AD 79 eruption, but the damage was not. By the 1631 eruption, the summit of Mount Vesuvius had been reduced by 450m, making its total height lower than that of Mount Somma.

Source: Wikipedia
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1783 Laki and Grimsvoetn

Total costsN/A
Deaths 33000

Informations

Laki (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈlaːcɪ]) or Lakagígar ([ˈlaːkaˌciːɣar̥], Craters of Laki) is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The fissure is properly referred to as Lakagígar, while Laki is a mountain that the fissure bisects. Lakagígar is part of a volcanic system centered on the volcano Grímsvötn and including the volcano Thordarhyrna. It lies between the glaciers of Mýrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull, in an area of fissures that run in a southwest to northeast direction. The system erupted violently over an eight-month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grímsvötn, pouring out an estimated 42 billion tons or 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi) of basalt lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil, leading to the death of over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, and the destruction of the vast majority of all crops. This led to a famine which then killed approximately 69% of the island's human population. The lava flows also destroyed 21 villages. The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures, as 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in North Africa and India.

Source: Wikipedia

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