Volcanoes

The island of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, April 1902. Smoke comes out from the mountain Mont Pelée. In early May, an explosion happens. The ground shakes, and more black smoke gushes from the mountain. Ash is hurled out and covers half of the island.

Birds hit by pieces of ash fall dead to the ground. At night, the top of the mountain glows orange. Clara writes in a letter to her sister in America that “everybody is afraid.” Martinique is experiencing a volcanic eruption. A volcanic eruption originates inside the earth. In the core of the planet, it is hot, between 4400 and 6000 degrees celsius.

The inner part of the earth consists of rock that floats, magma. On top of the magma there are hard plates, tectonic plates. Combined, the plates form a thin hard layer around the earth. This is the earth’s crust. The magma moves.

It pulls the continental plates and makes them move, slowly. If the plates are separated, small gaps open between two plates. Magma can then push up towards the surface and cause a volcanic eruption. Once the magma has passed the surface, it is called lava. Volcanoes can also appear when two plates collide.

One of the plates is then pressed deeper toward the mantle, and it brings sediment that melts in the heat. The molten sediment flows easily, and makes its way upwards toward the earth’s surface and creates an array of volcanoes. On land, this can be the origin of a mountain chain. And if the volcanoes are situated on the sea bed this can create island groups in the ocean. More and more lava pours out from the mouth of the volcano.

It solidifies, becomes rock, and when it eventually reaches above the ocean's surface new islands are created. There are also volcanic areas below continental plates, far from the boundary of the plates. At some places in the Earth’s mantle, the temperature is extra high, melting holes in the crust above. The magma pushes up through these holes. Volcanic eruptions have major consequences for humans and for nature.

The hot lava destroys buildings and fields as it flows, but it moves slowly, and humans usually have time to escape. Instead, it is gases, smoke, and ash which are the most dangerous for people. The gases and the smoke can be poisonous to breathe, and the ashes can build up in thick layers that suffocate all life below it. When magma moves upwards the earth’s crust shakes, causing small earthquakes. Using earthquake-sensing instruments it is possible to get warnings about coming volcanic eruptions.

But this is not completely reliable, since quakes can occur without magma rising to the surface. In 1902, there is no knowledge to predict an eruption. The people of St. Pierre, near the volcano, do not know what awaits. Many people from the countryside nearer to the crater of the volcano move to the city to seek protection, believing they will be safe there.

But in May, two weeks after the beginning of the eruption, the island shakes from an enormous explosion. Two black clouds gush out from the crater. They block the sunlight and put large parts of the island in darkness. Then, a wave of gas, ash, and rock comes rolling along the mountain slope. The temperature in the wave is above 1000 degrees.

It incinerates everything in its path, and after one minute the wave reaches St. Pierre. Soon, the city is completely destroyed. Only a few people survive. The volcanic eruption of Mont Pelée goes on for three years.

Almost 30,000 people lose their lives in the catastrophe.