Mount Pelée nuée ardente and the Peléan eruption type
Nube ardiente del Monte Pelée y erupción de tipo peleano
- Date
- 1902 · confidence high
- Place
- Saint-Pierre, Martinique
- Credited to
- Alfred Lacroix, French volcanologist
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The eruption of 8 May 1902 destroyed Saint-Pierre with a fast current of incandescent ash and gas and killed about 28,000 people. Lacroix studied it and defined the 'nuée ardente' (pyroclastic flow) and the Peléan eruption type.
The death toll varies between 28,000 and 30,000. Lacroix published La Montagne Pelée et ses éruptions in 1904. Martinique is a French overseas department.
What it led to
- classification of eruptions by style (Peléan) and study of pyroclastic currents
- the Mount Pelée volcanological observatory (1935)
- evacuation and monitoring protocols in the Caribbean