often evolved after all other gases have ceased to escape. Although
it may sometimes be due to the decomposition of limestone, it seems
to be mostly of true magmatic origin. At the well-known Grotta
del Cane, at Lake Agnano, in the Phlegraean Fields near Naples,
there has been for ages a copious discharge, and analyses of the air
of the cave by T. Graham Young showed the presence of from 61.5
to 71% of carbon dioxide. Gautier, in 1907, found 96 to 97% of
this gas in the vapours (excluding water-vapour) emitted from the
Solfatara near Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples. The gas by its
density tends to accumulate in depressed areas, as in the Death
Gulch in the Yellowstone Park and in the Upas Valley of Java. In
the Eifel, in the Auvergne and in many other volcanic regions it is
discharged at temperatures not above that of the atmosphere. This
natural carbonic acid gas is now utilized industrially at many
localities. In the gases of the fumaroles of Mont Pelé, carbon
monoxide, CO, was detected by H. Moissan. Probably certain
hydrocarbons, notably methane or marsh-gas, CH4, often exist in
volcanic gases. They might be formed by the action of water on
natural carbides, such as that of magnesium, calcium, &c. Moissan
found 5.46% of methane in vapour from a fumarole on Mont Pelé
in 1902. Free hydrogen was detected by R. Bunsen as far back as
1846 in vapours from volcanoes in Iceland. In 1861 Deville and
Fouque found it, with hydrocarbons, at Torre del Greco near Naples;
and m 1866 Fouqué discovered it at Santorin, where some of the
vapour at the immediate focus of eruption contained as much as
30% of hydrogen. It is notable that at Santorin free oxygen was
also found. The elements of water may possibly exist, at the high
temperature of the magma, in a state of dissociation, and certain
volcanic explosions have sometimes been attributed to the combination
of these elements. Oxygen is not infrequently found among
volcanic emanations, but may perhaps be derived in most cases from
superficial air and ground-water; and in like manner the nitrogen,
often detected, may be sometimes of atmospheric origin, though in
other cases derived from nitrides in the lava. In the vapours
emitted by Mont Pelé in 1902 argon was detected by H. Moissan,
to the extent of 0.71%; and in those from Vesuvius in 1906 argon
and neon were found by Gautier. The collection of volcanic vapours
offers difficulty, and it is not easy to avoid admixture with the atmosphere. F. A. Perret has successfully collected gases on Vesuvius.
Volcanic Flames.—Although the incandescence of the lava and stones projected during an eruption, and the reflection from incandescent matter in the crater have often been mistaken for red flames, there can be no doubt that true combustion, though generally feeble, does occur during volcanic outbursts. Among the gases cited above, hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide and the hydrocarbons are inflammable. The flames seen in volcanoes are generally pale and of bluish, greenish or yellowish tint. They were first examined spectroscopically by J. Janssen, who in 1867 detected the lines of burning hydrogen at Santorin. Subsequently he proved the presence of hydrogen, sodium and hydrocarbons in the volcanic flames of Kilauea. During the eruption of Vulcano, in the Lipari Isles, in 1888, flames with a bluish or greenish tinge were seen by A. E. Narlian, an experienced observer resident in the island. These, however, were referred to the kindling of sulphur deposited around the fumaroles, the flames being coloured by the presence of boric acid and arsenic sulphide.
When a stream of lava flows over vegetation the combustion of the leaves and wood may be mistaken for flames issuing from the lava. In like manner brushwood may grow in the crater of a dormant volcano and be ignited by a fresh outburst of lava, thus producing flames which, from their position in the crater, may readily deceive an observer.
Volcanic Sublimates.—Certain mineral substances occur as sublimates in and around the volcanic vents, forming incrustations on the lava. They are either deposited directly from the effluent vapours, which carry them in a volatile condition, or are produced by interaction of the vapours among themselves; whilst some of the incrustations, rather loosely called sublimates, are due to reaction of the vapours on the constituents of the lava. Possibly at the temperature of the magma-reservoirs even silica and various silicates may be volatilized, and might thus yield sublimation products. Many of the volcanic sublimates occur at first as incandescent crusts on the lava. Being generally unstable they are difficult of preservation, and are not usually well represented in collections.
Among the commonest sublimates is halite, or sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a white crystalline incrustation, sometimes accompanied, as at Vesuvius, by sylvite, or potassium chloride, KCl, which forms a similar sublimate. The two chlorides may be intimately associated. Sal ammoniac, or ammonium chloride, NH4Cl, is not uncommon, especially at Etna, as a white crystalline crust, probably formed in part by the reaction of hydrochloric acid with nitrogen and hydrogen in the vapours. Bunsen, on finding it in Iceland, regarded it as a product of the distillation of organic matter. At the Solfatara, near Pozzuoli, sal ammoniac was formerly collected as a sublimate on tiles placed round a bocca or vapour vent. Ferric chloride, FeCl3, not infrequently occurs as a reddish or brownish yellow deliquescent incrustation, and because it thus colours the lava it has received the name of molysite (from Gr. μόλυσις, stain). The action of hydrochloric acid on the iron compounds in the lava may readily yield this chloride, which from its yellowish colour has sometimes been mistaken for sulphur. A crystalline sublimate from the fumaroles on Vesuvius, containing ferric and alkaline chlorides, KCl⋅NH4Cl⋅2FeCl3+6H2O, is known as kremersite, after P. Kremers. From a scoriaceous lava found on Vesuvius after the eruption of 1906, Johnston-Lavis procured a yellow rhombohedral sublimate, which he proved to be a chloride of manganese and potassium, whence he proposed for it the name chlormanganokalite. It was studied by L. J. Spencer, and found to contain 4KCl⋅MnCl2. Chlorocalcite, or native calcium chloride, CaCl2, has been found in cubic crystals on Vesuvian lava. Fluorite, or calcium fluoride, CaF2, is also known as a volcanic product. Lead chloride, PbCl2, a rare Vesuvian mineral, was named cotunnite, after Dr Cotugno of Naples. The action of hydrogen sulphide on this chloride may give rise to galena, PbS, found by A. Lacroix on Vesuvius in 1906. Atacamite, or cupric oxychloride, CuCl2⋅3Cu(OH)2, occurs as a green incrustation on certain Vesuvian lavas, notably those of 1631. Another green mineral from Vesuvius was found by A. Scacchi to be a sulphate containing copper, with potassium and sodium, which he named from its fine colour euclorina—a word which has been written in English as euchlorinite. The copper in the sublimates on Vesuvius will sometimes plate the iron nails of a traveller's boots when crossing the newly erupted lava. Cupric oxide, CuO, occurs in delicate crystalline scales termed tenorite, after Professor G. Tenore of Naples; whilst cupric sulphide, CuS, forms a delicately reticulated incrustation known as covellite, after N. Covelli, its discoverer at Vesuvius.
A sublimate not infrequently found in feathery crystalline deposits on lava at Vesuvius, and formerly called “Vesuvian salt,” is a potassium and sodium sulphate, (K⋅Na)2SO4, known as aphthitalite (from Gr. ἄφθῐτος, imperishable, and ἅλς, salt). A sulphate with the composition PbSO4⋅(K⋅Na)2SO4, found in the fumaroles at Vesuvius after the eruption of 1906, was named by A. Lacroix palmierite, after L. Palmieri, who was formerly director of the observatory on Vesuvius. Various sulphates are formed on lavas by the sulphurous acid of the vapours. Ferric oxide, Fe2O3, which occurs in beautiful metallic scales as specular iron-ore, or as an amorphous reddish incrustation on the lava, is probably formed in most cases by the interaction of vapour of ferric chloride and steam at a high temperature. Less frequently, magnetite, Fe3O4, and magnesioferrite, MgFe2O4, are found in octahedral crystals on lava. An iron nitride (Fe5N2) was detected thinly in crusting a lava erupted at Etna in 1874, and was named by O. Silvestri, who examined it, siderazote.
Boric acid, H3BO3, occurs in the crater of Vulcano so abundantly that it was at one time collected commercially. It has also led to the foundation of an industry in Tuscany, where it is obtained from the soffioni (q.v.) of the Maremma. From Sasso in Tuscany it has received the name of sassolin or sassolite. Realgar, or arsenic sulphide, As2S2, occurs in certain volcanic exhalations and is deposited as an orange-red incrustation, often associated with sulphur, as at the Solfatara, where orpiment, As2S3, has also been found.
Of all volcanic products, sulphur (q.v.) is in some respects the most important. It may occur in large quantity lining the walls of the crater, as at Popocatepetl in Mexico, where it was formerly worked by the Indian “volcaneros,” or on the other hand it may be a rare product, as at Vesuvius. Sulphur appears generally to owe its origin in volcanic areas to the interaction of sulphur dioxide and sulphuretted hydrogen, or to the action of water on the latter. A volcanic vent where sulphur is deposited is truly a solfatara (solfo terra) or a soufrière, but all volcanoes which have passed into that stage in which they emit merely heated vapours now pass under this name (see Solfatara). The famous Solfatara, an old crater in the Phlegraean Fields, exhales sulphurous vapours, especially at the Bocca Grande, from which sulphur is deposited. In the orange-coloured sulphur of the Solfatara, realgar may be present to the extent of as much as 18%. A brown seleniferous sulphur occurring at Vulcano, one of the Lipari Islands, was termed by W. Haidinger volcanite, but it should be noted that Professor W. H. Hobbs has applied this name to an anorthoclase-augite rock ejected as bombs at Vulcano. Sulphur containing selenium is known as a volcanic product in Hawaii, whilst in Japan not only selenium but tellurium occurs in certain kinds of sulphur.
At the Solfatara, near Pozzuoli, the hot sulphurous vapours attack the trachytic rocks from which they issue, giving rise to such products as alum, kaolin and gypsum. To some of these products, including alunogen and mendozite (soda-alum), the name solfatarite was given by C. W. Sheppard in 1835. By prolonged action of the acid vapours on lava, the bases of the silicates may be removed, leaving the silica as a soft white chalk-like substance. The occurrence of kaolin and other white earthy alteration-products led to the hills around the Solfatara being known to the Romans as the Colli leucogei.
The Hot Dust Cloud and Avalanche of Pelé.—The terrific eruptions in the islands of Martinique and St Vincent in the West Indies in 1902, furnished examples of a type of activity not previously recognized by vulcanologists, though, as Professor A. Lacroix
