Before they were melted together, these glasses were stacked in a café. © AMNH/Denis Finnin
Before they were melted together, these glasses were stacked in a café.
This twisted piece of glass was once a Champagne bottle. © AMNH/Denis Finnin
This twisted piece of glass was once a Champagne bottle.
The American Museum of Natural History sent geologist Edmund Hovey (second from right) to understand the science behind the tragedy. ©AMNH Library
The American Museum of Natural History sent geologist Edmund Hovey (second from right) to understand the science behind the tragedy.
Before it was destroyed, St. Pierre was called the "Paris of the West Indies." In addition to rum, cocoa, and coffee trade, it had a theater, grand hotel, and lovely botanic garden. © AMNH Library
Before it was destroyed, St. Pierre was called the "Paris of the West Indies." In addition to rum, cocoa, and coffee trade, it had a theater, grand hotel, and lovely botanic garden.
Post-eruption, looking east down a side street in St. Pierre. © AMNH Library
Post-eruption, looking east down a side street in St. Pierre.
The arrows point to dents that were probably made by tiny pebbles hurled in the super fast, burning cloud that destroyed St. Pierre. Rue Victor Hugo was the city's main drag. © AMNH/Denis Finnin
The arrows point to dents that were probably made by tiny pebbles hurled in the super fast, burning cloud that destroyed St. Pierre. Rue Victor Hugo was the city's main drag.
This is a cooled chunk of lava found by Hovey in the ruins of a rum distillery five miles away from the crater. © AMNH/Denis Finnin
This is a cooled chunk of lava found by Hovey in the ruins of a rum distillery five miles away from the crater.
Mt. Pelée sent out a cloud of ash so hot it fused these glasses together. © AMNH/Denis Finnin
Mt. Pelée sent out a cloud of ash so hot it fused these glasses together.
This doorknob melted more on one side than the other, because the cloud of ash was moving so fast. Nearby trees were similarly affected, with one side scorched and the other showing almost no damage. © AMNH/Denis Finnin
This doorknob melted more on one side than the other, because the cloud of ash was moving so fast. Nearby trees were similarly affected, with one side scorched and the other showing almost no damage.
After the eruption, a spine of ash protruded from the ruined top of Mt. Pelée. The so-called "Needle of Pelée" collapsed within a few months. ©AMNH Library/ 24832
After the eruption, a spine of ash protruded from the ruined top of Mt. Pelée. The so-called "Needle of Pelée" collapsed within a few months.
It was right around breakfast time when the cloud of burning ash ripped through the city of Saint-Pierre in May of 1902. A nearby volcano, Mt. Pelée, had erupted moments before, and the blast obliterated the town, killing nearly everybody—more than 27,000 people.
Within weeks, the American Museum of Natural History sent geologist Edmund Hovey to investigate. The artifacts and photographs he brought back are featured in the museum’s new exhibit, “Nature’s Fury: The Science of Natural Disasters.”
Every place on Earth is vulnerable to some kind of natural disaster. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and even volcanic eruptions are all extensions of the natural systems that make our planet habitable. The exhibit explores not just the scientific mechanisms that drive disasters, but also shows how we’re getting better at protecting ourselves.
Before it was destroyed, Saint-Pierre was home to a rum distillery, theater, grand hotel, and bustling cocoa, sugar, and coffee markets. The cultural and economic capital of the island of Martinique, European tourists had nicknamed it the “Paris of the West Indies.” In the weeks leading up to Pelée’s big blow, there was an uptick in seismic activity in the area. Earthquakes knocked dishes from shelves, ash sputtered from Pelée’s peak, and mudflows ran down its sides. The day before the disaster, another volcano on a nearby island erupted, killing more than 1,500 people. Residents were wary that Pelée was primed, but believed that any danger would come from molten lava, which would be stopped by the hills and valleys between Saint-Pierre and the volcano.
Instead, when Mt. Pelée erupted, it sent out a cloud of gas, ash, and rocks called a pyroclastic flow. Moving at around 300 miles per hour, it incinerated everything in its path. The only survivors were a prisoner stuck in a poorly ventilated cell, a shoemaker living on the edge of town, and a small girl found floating on a raft 2 miles offshore. In many ways, the disaster is reminiscent of Pompeii, where a similar pyroclastic flow from Mt. Vesuvius destroyed a Roman settlement in CE 79.
“Nature’s Fury” opened on November 15, and runs through August 9, 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment