Last Eruption

The recovery that Martinique hoped to receive through tourists disappeared when it had its last eruption from 1929 to 1932, which scared off potential inhabitants. The biggest effect it had though was that it inspired the beginning of modern volcanology. It helped scientists define pyroclastic flows which contributed greatly. The most famous scientists who studied the mountain were Angelo Heilprin and Antoine Lacroix. Lacroix was actually the one to first describe a pyroclastic flow in depth.

Although the mountain has devastated the humans the mountain has lived in relative harmony with nature. Being in the Caribbean and having fast growing jungles covering the island, Martinique’s plant and animal population was quick to recover from the eruptions.

The Effects of the Eruption of 1902

After the eruption of 1902, Martinique never fully recovered. The ruins of the disastrous eruption still haunt the cities and the population was tremendously decimated. Despite this, Martinique has slowly recovered over time. This recovery was largely due to the tourist trade that helped to bring the population up to 6,000.

(Picture: Ruins of Martinique)

Major Eruption of 1902

The eruption that Mt. Pelée is most famous for is the one in 1902 which left only two alive in a city of 30,123 people. Between April 23rd and May 8th of 1902 the volcano destroyed much of Martinique and the entirety of its biggest city, Saint-Pierre. In 1889 it was reported that fumaroles had been reactivated. April 22nd the telegraph cable between Martinique and Guadeloupe was broken. On April 23rd the mountain awoke and sprayed a light cloud of cinders on its western and southern sides.

The next day a column of black smoke 1600-1900 ft high emits from the Etang Sec crater. On the 25th a large cloud of rocks and ash (like the one pictured in the image on the left) came from it but caused no major damage. The next day a dusting of ash covered the surrounding area. But this still caused no worry with the authorities. The day after a boiling lake was discovered in its crater and the smell of sulfur was all over the city which was approximately four miles away. From the 28th to the 30th flooding occurs in the Blanche river, the Roxelane river, and the Rivière des Pères, and the black column becomes higher.

Then, on May 2nd, a thin layer of dust covers the entire island, with Prêcheur receiving the brunt of the force. Animals started to die when their food and water sources are contaminated in the storms. The entire island began to audibly shake and tremble. By May 3rd Prêcheur was completely dark. This was when the inhabitants of the island began to take refuge in Saint-Pierre, and when the bugs and snakes fled from the volcano en mass which killed those who did not get out of their way.

On the 5th this really started getting surreal when the sea recede about 100 meters and one wall of the Etang Sec crater collapsed letting lose a deadly mudflow killing the first people, between 50 and 100 was the count. That night the electric grid was damaged which plunged the city into dark chaos. By the morning of the 7th, volcanic lighting had started around the top and the craters glowed effectively causing more panic. The people of the island reacted different ways. Some fled the city and island, many more journeyed to Saint-Pierre searching for safety, and meanwhile the newspapers proclaimed everything was alright in an attempt to stave off the panic driving the city. Although many had already died the worst was yet to come.

On May 8th between 3:00 am and 5:00 am mudflows carried away over 800 people. At 8:02 am a thick dark cloud erupted horizontally out of the mountain followed quickly by a giant mushroom cloud emerging vertically. They were travelling at 420 miles per hour. The mushroom cloud may have been more magnificent to watch it was the horizontal cloud which turned out to be the deadly pyroclastic flow. With temperatures over 1075 degrees Celsius it consumed the entire city in less than a minute burning everything and killing everyone. Only two survived: Louis-Auguste Cyparis and Léon Compère-Léandre. It continued to erupt until July 4th, 1905. In that time it killed about 1100 more people.

(Upper Right Picture: Area of Martinique effected by eruption)

Location

Mt. Pelée is a dormant volcano on the island of Martinique. Martinique is in the Lesser Antilles which is part of the French West Indies (a.k.a. the Caribbean).

Type and Structure of Volcano

Mount Pelée has been labeled by volcanologists as a stratovolcano. A stratovolcano is a conical mountain composed of many layers of hardened lava, tephra (a solid matter such as ash or dust), and volcanic ash. Some of the characteristics of a stratovolcano are that they have a steep profile and have periodically explosive eruptions. The lava of this volcano is viscous or in other words, a high resistance to flow. Many stratovolcanoes exceed a height of 2500 meters.

(Center Picture: An erupting stratovolcano)

Volcano Tectonics

In general, volcanoes are created when magma, or molten rock, rises through the earth.s crust to the surface. The magma is usually originates from under the earth's crust, located in the mantle layer of the earth. The magma rises, melting and pushing itself up through the earth's surface. The main factor that causes the magma to rise is the properties of tectonic plates which create weak areas in the earth's crust where magma can flow through.The main reason magma is able to rise to the surface to create volcanoes is due to tectonic plates. Volcanoes are most common at areas where tectonic plates meet. At those areas, the tectonic plates are moving slowly, diverging or converging, allowing volcanoes to form in different ways.

Divergent: When tectonic plates are diverging, this leaves an opening in the earth.s crust which allows the liquid magma to flow up creating volcanoes. This normally happens in the ocean, like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which creates underwater volcanoes and islands.

Convergent: When tectonic plates are converging, normally one plate goes under the other. This creates a lot of friction and when the lower plate goes low enough, it begins to melt, creating magma. This magma flows upward through the upper plate melting the crust and creating a magma chamber. If the magma is restricted from flowing onto the surface, the pressure builds up in the chamber and eventually the magma is ejected through the crust as a volcanic eruption.

Mount Pelée is the result of a subducting convergence of the Atlantic and Caribbean plates. In the case of this volcano, the Atlantic plate subducts beneath the Caribbean.

(Upper Right Picture: Tectonic Plate Map)