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Empedocles

Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia

Volcanic field · Italy · 8m (submarine)

An eruption at Graham Island (Giulia Ferdinandeo) in the Sicilian Sea in 1831. A new island was formed that was promptly claimed by Italy, France, Britain, and Spain. The island quickly eroded to beneath the sea surface after the eruption ended. Graham Island (also known as Ferdinandeo Bank) is part of the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia (Phlegraean Fields of the Sicily Sea), a group of submarine volcanoes constructed within a depression about 1,000 m deep, SW of Sicily.
An eruption at Graham Island (Giulia Ferdinandeo) in the Sicilian Sea in 1831. A new island was formed that was promptly claimed by Italy, France, Britain, and Spain. The island quickly eroded to beneath the sea surface after the eruption ended. Graham Island (also known as Ferdinandeo Bank) is part of the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia (Phlegraean Fields of the Sicily Sea), a group of submarine volcanoes constructed within a depression about 1,000 m deep, SW of Sicily. · Photo: From the collection of Maurice and Katia Krafft (published in Simkin and Siebert, 1994). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Volcanic field
Country
Italy
Region
Europe / Sicily Volcanic Province
Elevation
8m (submarine)
Coordinates
37.100, 12.700
Last eruption
1867
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Cluster
Major rock type
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
Geological summary

Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia (Phlegraean Fields of the Sicily Sea) is composed of a group of submarine volcanoes SW of Sicily. The volcanoes were constructed within a submarine depression about 1 km deep in the Strait of Sicily between the SW coast of Sicily and the NE tip of Tunisia, forming submarine banks that are capped by cones that rise to near sea level. Submarine eruptions were reported at the Giulia-Ferdinandeo and Pinne banks during the first Punic war (264-241 BCE), and from the 17th to 20th centuries, sometimes producing ephemeral islands. The 1831 eruption at Ferdinandea (also known as Graham in English or Giulia/Julia in French) produced an ephemeral island that was promptly claimed by the navies of France, Britain, Spain, and Italy.

From Wikipedia

Empedocles is a large underwater volcano located 40 km (25 mi) off the southern coast of Sicily named after the Greek philosopher Empedocles who believed that everything on Earth was made up of the four elements, and who is said by legend to have thrown himself into a volcano.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
253 BCE~56 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?1518~1714 · 2 eruptions · max VEI 21714~1911 · 5 eruptions · max VEI 3253 BCE33773113211714

Detailed timeline

  1. 1911VEI 1Geological estimate
    1911-09-30 – Ongoing
    Pinne
  2. 1867VEI 0Observed
    1867-07-02 – Ongoing
    Pinne
  3. 1863VEI 2Observed
    1863-08-12 – Ongoing
    Giulia Ferdinandeo
  4. 1846VEI 2Observed
    1846-10-04 – 1846-10-05
    Pinne
  5. 1831VEI 3Observed
    1831-06-28 – 1831-08-11
    Giulia Ferdinandeo (Graham Island)
  6. 1701VEI 2Geological estimate
    1701 – Ongoing
    Giulia Ferdinandeo
  7. 1632VEI 0Observed
    1632 – Ongoing
    Giulia Ferdinandeo
  8. 253 BCE (±12 yrs)VEI ?Observed
    BCE 253 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.