Marie Curie; The Unesco courier: a window ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Central in France, those of Latium,
of the Cascade Range in Oregon, and
of California (although the latter had
numerous, if "not major,, eruptions
throughout the last century, and even
as recently as 1916 in the case of
Lassen Peak).
But Clermont-Ferrand, Rome?. Com¬
pletely forgotten by the inhabitants,
the fact remains that only a few mil¬
lenia separate us from the last erup¬
tions. In the course of their lifetimes,
millions of years long, there must have
been many lulls, for dozens or even
hundreds of centuries, and there are
really no grounds for supposing that
the present calm signifies the end of
the volcano's activity rather than a
period of repose. Obviously the very
length of these quiet periods is hope¬
ful; centuries, hundreds of centuries
might pass and Clermont-Ferrand,
Rome or Seattle not be wiped out.
But the interval might be much
less.
The two most violent eruptions of
the twentieth century occurred at appa¬
rently extinct volcanoes; the first at
the Katmai volcano in Alaska from
June 6 to 8, 1912, the second at the
Bezimianyi Sopka in the Kam
chatka peninsula on March 30, 1956.
Relatively little was. known about Kat¬
mai and its neighbouring volcanoes,
but ten years ago it was thought that
there remained little to learn about
the volcanic chain around ' the Bezi¬
mianyi volcano indeed, Klyuchi, hard¬
ly- 50 kilometres away, is one of
the best-known volcanological obser¬
vatories. Nevertheless, and despite
intensive study of the strongly active
volcanoes in the area, no importance
was attached to this insignificant
"extinct" cone, its very name, "Unnam¬
ed" emphasizing its insignificance.
The explosion of March 30, 1956
blew the top off the mountain, hurtling
debris 40,000 metres into the air, blast¬
ing down the forests at its base, and
snapping tree trunks like matchwood
up to 20 kilometres away. As in
Alaska forty-four years earlier, no-one
was killed, but only because these
regions are practically uninhabited.
What would happen in six months, six
years or sixty times six years if a
cataclysm on this scale were to strike
Java or Japan?
In fact such a cataclysm did occur,
although fortunately on a smaller
scale, about fifteen years ago in New
Guinea. In this case it was not even
known. that the mountain was a volca¬
no; Mount Lamington, near the eastern
end of New Guinea, had been regarded
as just an ordinary mountain until the
day when, on January 16, 1951, a thin
column of vapour was seen rising from
its summit. The next day slight earth
tremors were noticed around the foot
of the mountain. The escapes of gas
and the tremors increased during the
next two days, and a small amount
of ash was ejected.
On January 20, the eruption had be¬
come spectacular; the wreath of ashes
reached up over 10,000 metres into the
sky and rumblings were heard, some¬
times dozens of kilometres away
On Sunday January 21, the volcano
was roaring continuously and at 10.40
a.m. it exploded: a fearsome wreath
of convoluting clouds of gas, spilling
ash, lapilli and blocks, shot up to a
height of 15,000 metres in a matter
of seconds and formed a huge mush¬
room cloud, while a glowing ava¬
lanche spread over the ground with
the same terrifying speed. Two hun¬
dred and fifty square kilometres of
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