Pub trivia: Volcanoes
Volcanoes
Think, if you will, of volcanoes as Mother Earth's spots or 'zits'. Most of them are inactive but the occasional one unleashes a pustular, pent-up globule of magma, just when you least expect it. It's just a phase. Pretty soon all Mother Earth's volcanoes will heal up and she'll start becoming interested in boys.
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Fact
Roman orator Pliny the Younger gave a graphic eye witness description of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79, but the first known record is a wall painting in a house in the ancient Turkish village of Catel Hayuk, dating back to 6200BC. It shows a twin-peaked volcano spewing ash and possibly lava.
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Fact
Sicily's Mt Etna – Europe's largest and most active volcano – blows smoke rings, each 650ft across and lasting up to 10 minutes as they drift up to 3,000ft.
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Fact
Pompeii is now a world-famous tourist attraction thanks to the eruption in AD79 which preserved it at the moment of its destruction. Today it is estimated that one million people live and work in an area which could be decimated within minutes if the still-active Mt Vesuvius had a medium to large scale eruption.
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Fact
When the island-volcano of Krakatoa erupted in 1883, the sound was heard 3,100 miles away, making it the loudest noise ever recorded.
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Fact
Kilauea in Hawaii is generally regarded as the world's most active volcano, having been erupting continuously since 1983 and having recorded 62 eruptions in the 245 years before then. It is one of five active volcanoes on the inhabited island.
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Fact
Mt Etna, on Sicily – Europe's largest and most active volcano – blows smoke rings, each 650ft across and lasting up to 10 minutes as they drift up to 3,000ft. It is thought that this phenomena is caused by the channeling of gas through the unusually shaped volcanic vent.
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Fact
The destruction of Santorini, a major Mediterranean seaport used by the sea-based Minoan civilisation, could have given rise to the legend of the lost city of Atlantis. The island collapsed in on itself after a volcanic explosion in 1650BC, causing catastrophic tsunami.
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