Scientists analyze volcanoes' killing ways.An analysis of people's deaths from more than 400 volcanic eruptions volcanic eruptions discharging of fumes, dust and lava from volcanoes. They have damaging potential in addition to those of being physically overpowering by the lava flow or the ash or dust fallout. may help reduce fatalities from future eruptions. In recorded history, volcanic activity has killed about 275,000 people, estimates Tom Simkin, a geologist with the National Museum of Natural History For the museum in Manhattan, see . This article is about the museum in Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see National Museum of Natural History (disambiguation). The National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He and his colleagues report their findings in the Jan. 12 SCIENCE. The trends are troubling. Each of the past 3 centuries has shown a doubling of fatal volcanic eruptions, and recent decades have averaged around three deadly eruptions per year. Much of this increase is due to population growth, the scientists say, because volcanic activity has remained roughly constant throughout recent centuries. Pyroclastic py·ro·clas·tic adj. Composed chiefly of rock fragments of volcanic origin. pyroclastic Composed chiefly of rock fragments of explosive origin, especially those associated with explosive volcanic flows--hot clouds of ash that sweep down the volcano at hurricane speeds--are the predominant killer, claiming almost 80,000 victims, the team reports. Volcano-triggered tsunamis, a threat to those living along the ocean even hundreds of miles away from an eruption, have drowned about 55,000. Also among the major killers are mudflows and tephra--the ash, rocks, and other material thrown skyward sky·ward adv. & adj. At or toward the sky. sky  wards adv. by volcanoes. Although many deaths occur in the first 24 hours of an eruption, when the element of surprise is the strongest, the researchers found that nearly two-thirds occurred more than a month after the eruption began. While thousands succumbed to indirect consequences of eruptions such as famines, many others who returned to the danger zone died in landslides or renewed volcanic activity. Simkin says more public education about these longer-term dangers of eruptions and increased attention to lava and smothering smothering death by asphyxiation. Occurs where poultry are carelessly herded into a corner where they cannot escape and where they are piled four or five birds deep; they will die of asphyxia very quickly. See also crowding. gases such as carbon dioxide could help stem risks to growing populations near volcanoes. Scientists can combine information about patterns of past volcanic behavior with sophisticated surveillance that uses satellites and earthbound earth·bound also earth-bound adj. 1. Fastened in or to the soil: earthbound roots. 2. a. instruments to better understand volcanoes and to provide warnings, says Jonathan H. Fink, a volcanologist at Arizona State University Arizona State University, at Tempe; coeducational; opened 1886 as a normal school, became 1925 Tempe State Teachers College, renamed 1945 Arizona State College at Tempe. Its present name was adopted in 1958. in Tempe. |
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