List of large volcanic eruptions of the 20th Century

This is a list of volcanic eruptions of the 20th Century measuring a Volcanic Explosivity Index

Volcanic Explosivity Index

The Volcanic Explosivity Index was devised by Chris Newhall of the U.S. Geological Survey and Stephen Self at the University of Hawaii in 1982 to provide a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions....

(VEI) of at least 4, as well as notable smaller eruptions. Note that there may be many other eruptions that have not been identified, and estimates for the size of eruptions can be subject to considerable uncertainties.

VEI	Volcano (eruption)	Year	Casualties	Notes
4?	La Soufrière	1902	1,680
4	Mount Pelée Mount Pelée Mount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of the island and French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava....	1902	33,000	Deadliest eruption of the 20th century.
6?	Santa María	1902	6,000
4	Grímsvötn Grímsvötn The Grímsvötn sub-glacial lakes and the volcano of the same name are in South-East Iceland. They are in the highlands of Iceland at the northwestern side of the Vatnajökull ice-cap. The lakes are at , at an elevation of...	1903
P	Mount Lolobau	1904
5	Ksudach Ksudach Ksudach is a stratovolcano in southern Kamchatka, Russia. The last eruption of Ksudach was in 1907, which was one of the largest ever recorded in Kamchatka....	1907
4	Mount Lolobau	1911
6	Novarupta Novarupta Novarupta, meaning "new eruption", is a volcano located on the Alaska Peninsula in Katmai National Park and Preserve, about southwest of Anchorage. Formed in 1912 during the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, Novarupta released 30 times the volume of magma as the 1980 eruption of...	1912		Largest eruption of the 20th century.
5	Colima Colima (volcano) The Colima Volcano is currently one of the most active volcanos in Mexico and in North America. It has erupted more than 40 times since 1576....	1913
4	Sakurajima Sakurajima , also romanized as Sakurashima or Sakura-jima, is an active composite volcano and a former island of the same name in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyūshū, Japan...	1914
4	Tungurahua Tungurahua Tungurahua, , rahua : "Throat of Fire" or from Panzaleo) is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua...	1916
4	Agrihan Agrihan Agrihan is a stratovolcano which forms an island in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The entire island is a massive volcano which rises over from the ocean floor, and is the fifth largest in the Marianas volcanic arc. At , its summit is the highest point in Micronesia...	1917
4+	Katla	1918
4	Kelud	1919	5000
4	Manam Manam Manam, known locally as Manam Motu, is an island located in the Bismarck Sea across the Stephan Strait from the northeast coast of mainland Papua New Guinea. The island is 10 kilometers wide, and was created by the activity of the Manam Volcano, one of the country’s most active...	1919
4	Raikoke Raikoke Raikoke , also spelled Raykoke, is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, across Golovnin Strait from Matua. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from “hellmouth”.-Geology:Raikoke is roughly circular,...	1924
4?	Iriomotejima	1924		Underwater volcano.
4	Avachinsky	1926
4	Komagatake Hokkaidō Komagatake , also , , or just is a 1131 meter adesitic stratovolcano on the border between Mori, Shikabe, and Nanae, Hokkaidō, Japan.-References:*...	1929
4	Kliuchevskoi	1931
4	Mount Aniakchak Mount Aniakchak Mount Aniakchak is a 3,700 year old volcanic caldera located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska, United States. The area around the volcano is the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, maintained by the National Park Service...	1931
4	Volcan De Fuego Volcán de Fuego Volcán de Fuego is an active stratovolcano in Guatemala. It is close to the city of Antigua Guatemala. It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest. "Fuego" is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Smoke issues from its top daily, but larger eruptions are rare. On...	1932
5+	Cerro Azul Cerro Azul (Chile volcano) Cerro Azul , sometimes referred to as Quizapu, is an active stratovolcano in the Maule Region of central Chile, immediately south of Descabezado Grande. Part of the South Volcanic Zone of the Andes, its summit is above sea level, and is capped by a summit crater that is wide and opens to the north...	1932
5	Kharimkotan Kharimkotan Kharimkotan ; Japanese 春牟古丹島; Harimukotan-tō, alternatively Harumukotan-tō or 加林古丹; Karinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located km from Onekotan near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean...	1933
4	Suoh	1933
4?	Kuchinoerabujima	1933
4?	Rabaul Rabaul Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...	1937
4	Parícutin Paricutín Parícutin is a cinder cone volcano in the Mexican state of Michoacán, close to a lava-covered village of the same name. It appears on many versions of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World...	1943–1952
4	Avachinsky	1945
4	Sarychev Peak Sarychev Peak Sarychev Peak Fuyō-san, Fuyō-yama, Fuyo-zan, Huyō San), is a stratovolcano covering almost the entirety of Matua Island in the Kuril Islands, Russia. It is a young, highly symmetrical stratovolcanic cone.- History :...	1946
4	Hekla Hekla Hekla is a stratovolcano located in the south of Iceland with a height of . Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since 874. During the Middle Ages, Icelanders called the volcano the "Gateway to Hell."Hekla is part of a volcanic...	1947
4+	Ambrym Ambrym Ambrym is a volcanic island in the archipelago of Vanuatu . It is well known for its highly active volcanic activity that includes lava lake formation.-Etymology:...	1950
4	Mount Lamington Mount Lamington Mount Lamington is an andesitic stratovolcano in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. The forested peak of the volcano had not been recognised as such until its devastating eruption in 1951 that caused about 3,000 deaths....	1951	2,942
4	Kelud	1951
4	Bagana Bagana Bagana is an active volcano located in the central part of the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, the largest island of the Solomon group. It is the most active volcano in the country. Just northeast of Bagana is the volcano crater lake Billy Mitchell. Bagana is one of 17 post-Miocene...	1952
4	Mount Spurr Mount Spurr Mount Spurr is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Volcanic Arc of Alaska, named after United States Geological Survey geologist and explorer Josiah Edward Spurr, who led an expedition to the area in 1898...	1953
4	Carran-Los Venados Carrán-Los Venados Carrán-Los Venados is a volcanic group of scoria cones, maars and small stratovolcanoes in southern Chile, southeast of Ranco Lake. The highest cone is Los Guindos , which is a small stratovolcano with an elevation of . The volcanic group has recorded eruptions from 1955 and 1979...	1955
5	Bezymianny Bezymianny Bezymianny is an active stratovolcano in Kamchatka, Russia. Prior to its noted 1955-56 eruption, Bezymianny volcano had been considered extinct...	1955-1957
5	Mount Agung Mount Agung Mount Agung or Gunung Agung is a mountain in Bali, Indonesia. This stratovolcano is the highest point on the island. It dominates the surrounding area influencing the climate...	1963	1,584
4+	Shiveluch Shiveluch Shiveluch is the northernmost active volcano in Kamchatka Krai, Russia. It is sometimes called Sheveluch or Sopka Shiveluch. It is one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanoes.- History :...	1964
4	Taal Taal Volcano Taal Volcano is a complex volcano located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Historical eruptions are concentrated on Volcano Island, an island near the middle of Lake Taal. The lake partially fills Taal Caldera, which was formed by powerful prehistoric eruptions between 140,000 to 5,380 BP...	1965
4	Kelud	1966
4	Mount Awu Mount Awu Mount Awu is the largest volcano in the Sangihe chain. Powerful eruptions occurred in 1711, 1812, 1856, 1892 and 1966 with devastating pyroclastic flows and lahars that have resulted in more than 8,000 fatalities altogether. A 4.5 km wide of crater is found at the summit and a deep valley...	1966
4	Fernandina	1968
4	Tiatia	1973
4	Volcan De Fuego Volcán de Fuego Volcán de Fuego is an active stratovolcano in Guatemala. It is close to the city of Antigua Guatemala. It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest. "Fuego" is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Smoke issues from its top daily, but larger eruptions are rare. On...	1974
4	Tolbachik Tolbachik Tolbachik is a volcanic complex on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia. It consists of two volcanoes, Plosky Tolbachik and Ostry Tolbachik , which as the names suggest are respectively a flat-topped shield volcano and a peaked stratovolcano...	1975
4	Mount Augustine	1976
5	Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is south of Seattle, Washington and northeast of Portland, Oregon. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a...	1980	57	Most deadly and economically destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the United States History of the United States The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The... .
4	Alaid Atlasov Island Atlasov Island, known in Russian as Ostrov Atlasova , or in Japanese as Araido , is the northernmost island and volcano and also the highest volcano of the Kuril islands, part of the Sakhalin Oblast in Russia. The Russian name is sometimes rendered in English as Atlasova Island...	1981
4	Pagan Pagan Island Pagan is an island of the Northern Mariana Islands chain,located at , approximately 320 kilometers northof Saipan.Pagan has an area of 47.23 km² , making it the fourth largest island of the Northern Marianas, and consists of two stratovolcanoes joined by a narrow strip of land.The...	1981
5	El Chichón El Chichón El Chichón, also known as El Chichonal is an active volcano in Francisco León Municipality in northwestern Chiapas, Mexico. Its only recorded eruptive activity was on March 29, April 3 and April 4, 1982 , when it produced a one km-wide caldera that then filled with an acidic crater lake...	1982	3,500	Ejected 7 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere.
4	Galunggung Galunggung Mount Galunggung is an active stratovolcano in West Java, Indonesia, around 80 km southeast of the West Java provincial capital, Bandung...	1982		Notable for bringing attention to the dangers of volcanic ash on aircraft after two Boeing 747 Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced... jets suffered engine failure from its ash cloud.
4	Colo Colo (volcano) Colo is a stratovolcano in Indonesia. It forms a small island at the middle of the Gulf of Tomini, the northern part of Sulawesi. The volcano is broad and has a low profile with only 507 m above the sea level. It contains a 2 km wide caldera with a small volcanic cone inside...	1983
3	Nevado del Ruiz Nevado del Ruiz The Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo or Kumanday in the language of the local pre-Columbian indigenous people, is a volcano located on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano, composed of many...	1985	23,000	Armero tragedy
4	Mount Augustine	1986
4	Chikurachki Chikurachki Chikurachki is the highest volcano on Paramushir Island in the northern Kuril islands, is actually a relatively small cone constructed on a high Pleistocene volcanic edifice. Oxidized andesitic scoria deposits covering the upper part of the young cone give it a distinctive red color...	1986
4	Kliuchevskoi	1987
3	Mount Redoubt Mount Redoubt Mount Redoubt is the name of three mountains:* Mount Redoubt in Alaska, United States* Mount Redoubt in Washington, United States* Redoubt Mountain in Banff National Park, Canada...	1989-1990		Second costliest volcanic eruption in United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... history. Caused engine failure of all four engines on KLM Flight 867 KLM Flight 867 On 15 December 1989, KLM Flight 867 en route to Narita International Airport, Tokyo from Amsterdam was descending into Anchorage International Airport, Alaska when all four engines failed... after it flew through the ash cloud.
4	Kelud	1990
6	Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga. It is located in the Tri-Cabusilan Mountain range separating the west coast of Luzon from the central plains, and is west of the dormant and...	1991	847	Largest stratospheric disturbance since Krakatoa Krakatoa Krakatoa is a volcanic island made of a'a lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island , and the volcano as a whole. The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates... eruption in 1883, dropping global temperatures and increasing ozone depletion.
5+	Mount Hudson Mount Hudson Mount Hudson is a stratovolcano in southern Chile, and the site of one of the largest eruptions in the twentieth century. The mountain itself is covered by a glacier. There is a caldera at the summit from an ancient eruption; modern volcanic activity comes from inside the caldera...	1991
4	Mount Spurr Mount Spurr Mount Spurr is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Volcanic Arc of Alaska, named after United States Geological Survey geologist and explorer Josiah Edward Spurr, who led an expedition to the area in 1898...	1992
4	Lascar	1993
4?	Rabaul Rabaul Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...	1994

External links

VEI glossary entry from a USGS
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

website
How to measure the size of a volcanic eruption, from The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
The size and frequency of the largest explosive eruptions on Earth, a 2004 article from the Bulletin of Volcanology
Bulletin of Volcanology
The Bulletin of Volcanology is the official journal of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior published by Springer Science+Business Media...
List of Large Holocene Eruptions (VEI > 4) from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program
VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

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See also

External links