Mount Pelée
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{{Infobox Mountain
| Name = Mount Pelée
| Photo = La Pelée vue du Carbet.jpg
| Caption =
| Elevation = {{convert|1397|m|ft|0}}
| Range =
| Location = [[Martinique]]
| Prominence =
| Coordinates = {{coord|14|49|0|N|61|10|0|W|region:FR_type:mountain|display=inline,title}}
| Type=[[Stratovolcano]]
| Age=
| Last eruption = 1932 <ref name=gvp>{{VNUM|1=1600-12=}}</ref>
| First ascent =
| Easiest route =
}}
'''Mount Pelée''' ([[French language|French]]: ''Montagne Pelée'', "Bald Mountain") is an active [[volcano]] on the northern tip of the French [[overseas department]] of [[Martinique]] in the [[Caribbean]]. It is among the deadliest [[stratovolcano]] on Earth, its [[volcanic cone]] composed of layers of [[volcanic ash]] and hardened [[lava]].
Mount Pelée is famous for its eruption in [[1902]] and the destruction that resulted, the worst volcanic disaster of the [[20th Century]]. The eruption killed about 26,000 to 36,000 people, including the island's governor, and destroyed [[Saint-Pierre, Martinique|Saint-Pierre]], at that time the largest city in Martinique. Mount Pelee is made up mostly of pyroclastic material. This was a massive devastation to France, as not having a major volcanic eruption before in its time.
==1902 eruption==
[[Image:1902-pelee-map.jpg|left|thumb|300px|A map of the affected area around Mount Pelée printed in 1904.]]
Before the tragic 1902 eruption, as early as the summer of [[1900]], signs of increased [[fumarole]] activity was present in the ''Étang Sec'' crater near the summit (Scarth, page 30). Relatively minor phreatic (steam) eruptions that occurred in 1792 and 1851 were evidence that the volcano was active and potentially dangerous. Local natives, the [[Carib]] people, knew it as "fire mountain" from previous eruptions in ancient times.
Though it was previously dormant, at least in living memory, Mount Pelée began its eruptions on [[April 25]], [[1902]]. In early April, excursionists noted the appearance of sulfurous vapors emitting from [[fumarole]]s near the mountaintop. This was not regarded as important, as fumaroles had been appearing and disappearing in the past.
* On April 23, the mountain caused a light rain of [[cinder]]s on its southern and western side, together with sharp underground shocks.
* On April 25, the mountain emitted a large cloud containing rocks and ashes from its top, where the Étang Sec - a dry basin - was located. The ejected material did not cause a meaningful amount of damage.
* On April 26, the area was dusted by [[volcanic ash]] from a next eruption; the public authorities still did not see a reason to worry.
* On April 27, several excursionists climbed the mountaintop to find Étang Sec filled with water, forming a lake 180 meters across. There was a 15 meter high cone of volcanic debris built up on one side, feeding the lake with a steady stream of boiling water. Sounds resembling a cauldron with boiling water were heard from deep underground. The strong smell of sulfur was all over the city, 4 miles away from the volcano, causing discomfort to people and horses.
* On April 30, the rivers Roxelane and Rivière des Pères swelled, carrying boulders and trees from the mountaintop. The villages of Prêcheur and Ste. Philomène were receiving a steady stream of ashes.
* At 11:30 p.m. on May 2, the mountain produced loud detonations, earthquakes, and a massive pillar of dense black smoke. Ashes and fine-grained [[pumice]] covered the entire northern half of the island. The detonation continued in 5-6 hour intervals. This led the local newspaper Les Colonies to indefinitely postpone the proposed picnic on the mountain, originally planned for May 4. Farm animals started dying from hunger and thirst, as their sources of water and food were contaminated with ash.
* On Saturday, May 3, the wind blew the ash cloud northwards, alleviating the situation in St Pierre. The next day the ash fall intensified, and the communication between St Pierre and the Precheur district was severed. The ash cloud was so dense that the coastal boats feared to navigate through it. Many citizens decided to evacuate, filling the capacity of the steamer lines. The area was covered with a layer of fine, flour-like white ash. The animals, wild and domestic alike, were growing restless; the Guérin Sugar Works, two miles northwest of St. Pierre, was invaded by a great swarm of speckled ants and foot-long [[centipedes]], which bit unfortunate horses while workers tried to subdue the frenzied insects. In St. Pierre, hundreds of restless [[Bothrops lanceolatus|fer-de-lance]] snakes slithered through the streets, biting anybody who did not stay out of their paths. Soldiers were called in to shoot the snakes, although not before a number of humans and domestic animals were killed by the snakes.
[[Image:Mount Pelée 1902 refugees.jpg|thumb|Evacuees on Rue du Pavé, Fort de France]]
* On Monday, May 5, the mountain apparently calmed down somewhat; however, at about 1 PM, the sea suddenly receded about 100 meters and then rushed back, flooding parts of the city, and a large cloud of smoke appeared westwards of the mountain. One wall of the Étang Sec crater collapsed and propelled a mass of boiling water and mud, or [[lahar]], into Riviere Blanche, flooding the Guérin sugar works and burying about 150 victims under 60 to 90 meters of mud. Refugees from other areas rushed into St Pierre. That night, the atmospheric disturbances disabled the electric grid, sinking the city into darkness and adding to the confusion.
* The next day, at about 2 AM, loud sounds were heard from within the depth of the mountain.
* On Wednesday, May 7, at around 4 AM, the mountain stepped up its activity; the clouds of ash caused numerous [[lightning]]s around the mountaintop, and both the craters glowed reddish orange into the night. Through the day, people were leaving the city, but more people from the countryside were attempting to find refuge in the city, increasing its population by several thousand. The newspapers still claimed the city was safe. News of the volcano [[Soufrière]] erupting on the nearby [[Saint Vincent (island)|St. Vincent]] island reassured the people that the internal pressures in the mountain were being relieved. Not everyone was reassured, though; Captain Marina Leboffe, of the barque Orsolina, left the harbor with only half of the sugar cargo loaded, despite shippers' protests, clearance refused by the port authorities, and threats of being arrested.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} However, Governor Louis Mouttet and his lady stayed in the city. By the evening, the mountain's tremors seemed to calm down again.
[[Image:Mount Pelée 1902.jpg|thumb|1902 eruption]]
==The main eruption==
On [[May 8]], [[1902]], on the [[Ascension Day]], an "eruption" destroyed the town of [[Saint-Pierre, Martinique|Saint-Pierre]], about 4 miles south of the peak.
In the morning, people were observing the fireworks the mountain was showing off. The night shift telegraph operator was sending the reports of the volcano's activity, to the operator at Fort-de-France, claiming no significant new developments; his last transmission was "Allez", handing over the line to the remote operator. It was 7:52; the next second the telegraph line went dead. A cable repair ship had the city in direct view; the upper mountainside ripped open and a dense black cloud shot out horizontally. A second black cloud rolled upwards, forming a gigantic mushroom cloud and darkening the sky in a 50 mile radius. The initial speed of both clouds was later calculated to be over 670 kilometers per hour (apx 416 mph).
The horizontal [[pyroclastic cloud]] was hugging the ground, speeding down towards the city of Saint Pierre, appearing black and heavy, glowing hot from the inside. In under a minute it reached the city, instantly igniting everything combustible it came in contact with, covering the entire city.
A rush of wind followed, this time towards the mountain. Then came a half-hour downpour of muddy rain mixed with ashes. For the next several hours, all communication with the city was severed. Nobody knew what was happening, nor who had authority over the island, as the governor was unreachable and his status unknown. Some survivors were picked from the sea; mostly badly burned sailors, who had been blown into the sea by the blast and then clung for hours to floating debris.
A warship arrived towards the shore at about 12:30, but the heat prevented landing until about 3 PM. The city burned for several more days.
The area devastated by the pyroclastic cloud covered about 8 square miles, with the city of St. Pierre taking its brunt.
The cloud consisted of superheated steam and volcanic gases and dust, with temperatures reaching over 1000 °C.
Saint Pierre had a population of some ~30,000, which was swelled by refugees from the minor explosions and mud flows first emitted by the volcano. There were pitifully few survivors: [[Ludger Sylbaris]], a prisoner held in an underground cell in the town's [[county jail|jail]] (later pardoned), and [[Léon Compère-Léandre]], a man who lived at the edge of the city. One woman, a housemaid, also survived the pyroclastic flow but perished soon after; the only thing she remembered from the event was sudden heat. She died very shortly after being discovered. Included among the victims were the passengers and crews of several ships docked at Saint Pierre.
One passenger steamship, the ''Roraima'', which went missing on April 26, was believed to have been engulfed by ash from a preliminary explosion. However, it reached the port of Saint Pierre at 6:30 AM, shortly before the eruption, and was set aflame by the ''[[nuée ardente]]''. It later sank; its wreck is still present offshore of Saint Pierre; 28 of her crew and all the passengers except two were killed by the cloud.
== Subsequent Activity ==
[[Image:Mount Pelée 1902 - Morne Rouge.jpg|thumb|Main Street, Le Morne-Rouge, after the August 30 eruption]]
Mount Pelée continued to erupt until July 4, 1905 (Scarth, p.221).
* On May 20, a second eruption equal to the first one in both type and force obliterated what was left of St Pierre.
* During a powerful eruption on [[August 30]], [[1902]], a pyroclastic flow extended further east than the flows of 8 and 20 May. Although not quite as powerful as the previous two eruptions, the August 30 pyroclastic flow struck Morne Rouge (at least 800 fatalities), Ajoupa-Bouillon (250 fatalities), and parts of Basse-Pointe (25 fatalities) and Morne-Capot (10 fatalities). This was the last fatal eruption of Mount Pelée until the present time. (Scarth, pp. 212-218).
* Beginning in October 1902, a dramatic [[lava spine|volcanic spine]] grew from the dome in the Étang Sec crater, reaching a maximum height of 1617m (272m above the dome). Called the "Needle of Pelée", this extraordinary volcanic feature collapsed during 1903 (Scarth, pp.219-221).
The study of the causes of the disaster marks the beginning of modern [[volcanology]] with the definition and the analysis of the deadliest volcanic hazard: the [[pyroclastic flows]] and surges, also called "nuées ardentes" (''Fr:'' burning clouds). The eruption has also lent its name to the "[[Pelean eruption]] style". Among those who studied Mount Pelée were [[Angelo Heilprin]] and [[Antoine Lacroix]]. The illustrious Lacroix was the first to meticulously describe the "nuée ardente" phenomenon (Scarth, p.207).
The destruction caused by the 1902 eruption was quickly publicized by recent modern means of communication. It brought to the attention of the public and governments the hazards and dangers of an active volcano.
== Mt. Pelée Today ==
As of 2006, the volcano currently lies silent above Saint Pierre and Martinique. Before the 1902 eruption as early as the summer of 1900, signs of increased [[fumarole]] activity were present in the Étang Sec crater (Scarth, p.30). Relatively minor [[phreatic]] (steam) eruptions that occurred in 1792 and 1851 were evidence that the volcano was active. Signs of unrest will almost certainly precede any future eruptive activity from Mt. Pelée, and its past activity (including the violent eruptions uncovered by [[carbon dating]]) is an extremely important factor for hazard assessment (Global Volcanism Program - Pelee Eruptive History [http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1600-12=&volpage=erupt&VErupt=Y&VSources=Y&VRep=Y&VWeekly=N]).
During the May 8, 1902 eruption, 2 (possibly 3) individuals survived out of ~30,000 people in Saint-Pierre. Others died in areas near the city (c.400 died in a semaphore station on Morne Folie - Scarth, p.176) and many perished on ships in the harbor. Pelée is one of the most active volcanoes in the [[West Indies]] and it is possible it might erupt again. Currently, Mount Pelée is under continuous watch by [[geophysics|geophysicists]] and [[volcanology|volcanologists]] ([[Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris|IPGP]]).
==See also==
* [[Mount Vesuvius]]
* [[Mount Pinatubo]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
Alwyn Scarth, ''La Catastrophe'', Oxford, 2002
==External links==
* [http://www.zananas-martinique.com/en-saint-pierre-martinique/ Saint Pierre and the Volcanic eruption of 1902]
* [http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Pelee.html Eruption of Mt. Pelée (1902)]
* [http://library.thinkquest.org/26568/pelee.htm Thinkquest article]
* [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1961/5/1961_5_4.shtml American Heritage article]
* [http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1600-12= Global Volcanism Program - Pelee]
* [http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/2005/05_08_25.html "A Pioneering Volcanologist Narrowly Beats the Reaper"]
* [http://www.brgm.fr/risques/antilles/mart/vmart.htm Hazard map for Mt. Pelee (in French)]
* [http://www.mount-pelee.com/index.php/ La montagne Pelée]
* [http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_mt_pelee.html/ Info Interesting Info on Mount Pelee]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelee}}
[[Category:Geography of Martinique]]
[[Category:Mountains of France]]
[[Category:Natural history of Martinique]]
[[Category:Highpoints in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Stratovolcanoes]]
[[Category:Subduction volcanoes]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of France]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Active volcanoes]]
[[Category:Natural disasters in Martinique]]
[[Category:1902 natural disasters]]
[[cs:Mont Pelée]]
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