Year 1538 (MDXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera, resulting from the collapse of an earlier, much higher structure.
A fumarole is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcanic activity, but fumarole activity can also precede a volcanic eruption and has been used for eruption prediction. Most fumaroles die down within a few days or weeks of the end of an eruption, but a few are persistent, lasting for decades or longer. An area containing fumaroles is known as a fumarole field.
Bradyseism is the gradual uplift or descent of part of the Earth's surface caused by the filling or emptying of an underground magma chamber or hydrothermal activity, particularly in volcanic calderas. It can persist for millennia in between eruptions and each uplift event is normally accompanied by thousands of small to moderate earthquakes. The word derives from the ancient Greek words βραδύςbradús, meaning "slow", and σεισμόςseismós meaning "movement", and was coined by Arturo Issel in 1883.
The volcanism of Italy is due chiefly to the presence, a short distance to the south, of the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. Italy is a volcanically active country, containing the only active volcanoes in mainland Europe. The lava erupted by Italy's volcanoes is thought to result from the subduction and melting of one plate below another.
The Phlegraean Fields is a large region of supervolcanic calderas situated to the west of Naples, Italy. It was declared a regional park in 2003. The area of the caldera consists of 24 craters and volcanic edifices; most of them lie under water. Hydrothermal activity can be observed at Lucrino, Agnano and the town of Pozzuoli. There are also effusive gaseous manifestations in the Solfatara crater, the mythological home of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. This area is monitored by the Vesuvius Observatory. It is considered a supervolcano.
Ferdinandea Island is a submarine volcano in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Sicily that has, on more than one occasion, risen above the surface of the Mediterranean via volcanic action and soon thereafter been washed away. Since 300 BC this cycle of events has occurred four times.
Lake Avernus is a volcanic crater lake located in the Avernus crater in the Campania region of southern Italy, around 4 kilometres west of Pozzuoli. It is near the volcanic field known as the Phlegraean Fields and comprises part of the wider Campanian volcanic arc. The lake is roughly circular, measuring two kilometres in circumference and 60 metres deep.
Piperno is a magmatic rock present in areas where there has been volcanic activity. Piperno abounds in Campania; the areas from which it was obtained were the city of Quarto, Soccavo, Pianura and Nocera Inferiore in the supervolcano region of the Phlegraean Fields. The Piperno layer, with the overlying Breccia Museo, is clearly visible at the base of the Camaldoli hill, in the Soccavo and Verdolino areas.
Empedocles is a large underwater volcano located 40 km off the southern coast of Sicily named after the Greek philosopher Empedocles who believed that everything on Earth was made up of the four elements, and who is said by legend to have thrown himself into a volcano.
Kambalny is a stratovolcano located in the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. It is the southernmost active volcano of Kamchatka. It has erupted mafic rocks. It has a summit crater as well as five cinder cones on its flanks which are the source of lava flows.
The Campanian volcanic arc is a volcanic arc that consists of a number of active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes in the Campania region of Italy. The Campanian volcanic arc centers on the bay of Naples and includes:
Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts. It is common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and phreatomagmatic components.
Auquihuato is a cinder cone in the Andes of Peru, 4,980 metres (16,339 ft) high. It is situated in the Ayacucho Region, Paucar del Sara Sara Province, on the border of the districts Colta and Oyolo. Auquihuato lies northeast of Sara Sara volcano.
Francesco Signore was an important Italian volcanologist. He began his scientific career as assistant at the "Istituto di Fisica Terrestre", Naples. He served his country during World War I. He was nominated assistant at the Vesuvius Observatory (1928). He taught volcanology at the faculty of science, University of Naples (1934–1956). He was secretary general of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVECI) from 1936 until his death.
The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption was a major volcanic eruption in the Mediterranean during the late Quaternary, classified 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The event has been attributed to the Archiflegreo volcano, the 12-by-15-kilometre-wide caldera of the Phlegraean Fields, located 20 km (12 mi) west of Mount Vesuvius under the western outskirts of the city of Naples and the Gulf of Pozzuoli, Italy. Estimates of the date and magnitude of the eruption(s), and the amount of ejected material have varied considerably during several centuries the site has been studied. This applies to most significant volcanic events that originated in the Campanian Plain, as it is one of the most complex volcanic structures in the world. However, continued research, advancing methods, and accumulation of volcanological, geochronological, and geochemical data have improved the dates' accuracy.
De balneis Puteolanis is a medieval didactic poem in Latin, attributed to Peter of Eboli, describing the thermal baths of Pozzuoli in the Campi Flegrei region of Campania. The poem has the alternative title De balneis terrae laboris.
The 1669 eruption of Mount Etna is the largest-recorded historical eruption of the volcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy. After several weeks of increasing seismic activity that damaged the town of Nicolosi and other settlements, an eruption fissure opened on the southeastern flank of Etna during the night of 10–11 March. Several more fissures became active during 11 March, erupting pyroclastics and tephra that fell over Sicily and accumulated to form the Monti Rossi scoria cone.
The 1883 Casamicciola earthquake, also known as the Ischia earthquake occurred on 28 July at 20:25 local time on the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples in Italy. Although the earthquake had an estimated moment magnitude of 4.2–5.5, considered moderate in size, it caused intense ground shaking that was assigned XI (Extreme) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. Between 2,313 and 3,100 people lost their lives. The city also suffered great property losses, with 80 percent of all homes destroyed. This earthquake was exceptionally destructive for its magnitude mainly due to its shallow focal depth.
