Mount Vulture () is an inactive Dormant volcano located north of the city

Potenza Potenza (, ; ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one of ...

in the

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

region (

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

). 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 volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, 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 surrou ...

. 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 Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

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

and the 1792 eruption of Mount Unzen. The most recent phase involved further lava flows and the growth of

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

s 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

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

s and small cold surges (pyroclastic surges cooler than 100 °C). Active outgassing of carbon dioxide and other mantle-derived volatiles occur from Monte Vulture and the surrounding region.

References

External links

*
Mount Vulture volcano, Italy
" ''Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology'', website by Boris Behncke * Stratovolcanoes of Italy Campanian volcanic arc Calderas of Italy Maars of Italy Extinct volcanoes of Europe Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Mountains of Basilicata Mountains of the Apennines One-thousanders of Italy {{Basilicata-geo-stub

Volcanic history

See also

Further reading

References

External links