This notorious volcano looms above the town of St. Pierre (middle distance) exactly as it did prior to its catastrophic eruption of May 8, 1902, when the town was destroyed and more than 20,000 inhabitants were killed. In French, the word pelé means bald. This implies that when Mt. Peléee acquired its name, it's summit was an unvegetated dacitic lava dome, just as it is today. The visible lava dome was constructed during the volcano's most recent eruptive episode (1929-1930) but a closely similar edifice was built during the 1902 eruption, to be later destroyed. St. Pierre was destroyed by nuéees ardentes (glowing avalanches) which detached from the growing lava dome and crashed under gravity down the flanks of the volcano. For the most part, these avalanches were topographically controlled by preexisting valleys, such as that of the Rivière Blanche (extreme left) but some were big enough to engulf St. Pierre on their margins. (Fig. 4.18).

Part 1       Part 2       Part 3       Part 4       Next Slide



 To VolcanoWorld