KEPORT ON THE RECENT GREAT ERUPTION OF THE 

 VOLCANO "STROI^IBOLI." 



By Frank A. Perret,' 

 Volcanologisl to the Volcanic Research Society of Springfield, Mass. 



[With 9 plates.] 



I have the honor to present, as yon reqnested, the follomng report 

 on the recent remarkable ernption of Stromboli, and particuharly for 

 the following reasons: 



1. Thif? eruption, together with the last one in 1907, differs bo greatly from the 

 characteristic activity of Stromboli as to mark a new era in the volcano's eruptive 

 habit. 



2. The eruption, although certainly the greatest in many years and imperiling the 

 lives of the 5,000 inhabitants of the island, passed almost unnoticed bj?^ the press. 



3. The writer, as well in 1907 as in the present year, was the only observer. The 

 Italian volcanologists in both cases visited the island only after the close of the 

 eruption. 



Stromboli, at the northeast extremity of the Lipari group of 

 islands, north of Sicily, appears as a small volcanic cone rising but 

 925 meters (3,033 feet) above the sea. It shonld be remembered, 

 however, that what is seen is but the summit of a submarme moun- 

 tam of great size and height. Its general form is shown in i)late 1, 

 figure 1, the principal cliaracteristics being a divi(kMl and crested 

 summit, an eccentric crater situated nearly 200 meters below the 

 summit, a steep slope (35°) descending directly from the crater to 

 the sea (the so-called "Sciarra del Fuoco"), and two plateaus on 

 opposite sides of the island from the crater wliich form the inhabited 

 and only habitable points. 



The crater is thus mvisiblc to the inhabitants and, while this 

 undoubtedly contributes to thou- securit}^ and tranquillity, it is often, 

 nevertheless, the cause of their ignorance of the volcano's condition 

 especially as regards the preparatory symptoms of an ciiiption. Tlie 

 old semaphore station on Punta Labronzo was well placed for obser- 

 vation but was abandoned after the Calabrian earthquake of 1 905, 

 by which it was badly damaged. The new station above the town 

 of San Vincenzo is not in sight of the crater 



' Report to Mr. Ilandlcy, American consul at Naple.;, Italy, Oct. 20, 1912, transmitted to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution by the Department of State Dec. 30, 1912. 



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