Edinburgh Castle Rock and the Arthur's Seat volcano

BGS image ID: P001266

Oblique aerial view of Edinburgh Castle Rock and the Arthur's Seat volcano, looking from the west-north-west. In the foreground, Edinburgh Castle sits on dolerite plugging a Lower Carboniferous volcanic vent intruded into softer sedimentary rocks. Glaciation from the west has left the crag-and-tail feature formed by the hard crag of the Castle Rock and the tail of the Royal Mile stretching eastwards. The remnants of another Lower Carboniferous volcano form Queen's Park in the middle distance: the Arthur's Seat summit is formed of agglomerate and intrusions filling the volcanic vents; the ridges of Whinny Hill to the left (north) are the remains of the lava flows. The sharp Salisbury Craigs in front are formed of a slightly younger teschenite (dolerite) sill.

Bob McIntosh

Sketch of the cone on Mount Pelée

BGS image ID: P823786

 This sketch of the cone of the volcano Mount Pelée on Martinique was sent to John Flett who at the time was a Geologist at the Geological Survey. The creator of the sketch has written his name on the bottom right-hand side. It is not clear but could be W M Hadden, Major RE [Royal Engineers].

The eruption of Mount Pelée in May 1902 killed around 30,000 people and volcanic activity continued until 1905.

Andrew L Morrison

La Soufrière, St Vincent, 1902




BGS image ID: P730640

This photograph captioned "East side of Soufrière, showing trees levelled by the blast" is part of an album of photographs of La Soufrière and Mount Pelée taken by Tempest Anderson.

Anderson was born in 1846 at York and was educated at St Peter’s School, York and University College London. He qualified as an ophthalmic surgeon and was for a time a consultant at York County Hospital. In his spare time he did a lot of travelling and was especially interested in visiting and photographing active volcanoes. In 1902 he was part of the Royal Society expedition to St Vincent and Martinique to study La Soufrière and Pelée. Anderson died on 26 August 1913 on his way back from an expedition to the volcanoes of Indonesia and the Philippines.

Andrew L Morrison

Vesuvius eruption August 7th 1886 by H.J. Johnston-Lavis

BGS image ID: P640525

Vesuvius eruption August 7th 1886 by  H.J. Johnston-Lavis.

Description below image reads: Instantaneous photo of same subject as Nos 8 and 9. taken with a narrow-angle lens at the moment of an explosion of vapour, stones and ash. August 7th 1886.

Johnston Lavis was born in 1856 and died in 1914. Educated at University College, London, he was Professor of Volcanology at the Royal University of Naples. He produced a map of Vesuvius in 1891.

Bob McIntosh

Pumice from Krakatoa (Krakatau)

BGS sample: MR17778

This pumice was taken from the deck of the ship "Charles Bal" after the eruption of Krakatoa.

Krakatoa (or more correctly Krakatau) is in the Sundra Strait between Java and Sumatra. The eruption of 1883 was one of the most violent volcanic events in recorded history.

In an interview in The Atlantic Monthly, Captain Watson who was in command of the "Charles Bal" recalled:

"At five the roaring noise continued and was increasing; darkness spread over the sky, and a hail of pumice stone fell on us, of which many pieces were of considerable size and quite warm. We were obliged to cover up the skylights to save the glass, while our feet and heads had to be protected with boots and sou-westers. About six the fall of larger stones ceased, but there continued a steady downpour of a smaller kind, most blinding to the eyes, and covering the deck to a depth of three or four inches very speedily”

Andrew L Morrison

Eruption of Etna, August 1892

BGS image: P711317

The eruption of Mount Etna has been in the news recently, and here is a photograph of the eruption on the flank of Etna 9th August 1892, 120 years ago. This was one of a series from July to September 1892 that gave rise to the Monti Silvestri crater row. 

Presented by Professor G. Platania of Aci Reale, Sicily. Photograph held in the BGS Archives, Keyworth. Archive reference GSM/GX/Pa/1.

Bob McIntosh