Mount Pelée Eruption
1902 · 20th Century
On May 8, 1902, Mount Pelée on the island of Martinique produced a pyroclastic flow — a ground-hugging cloud of superheated gas and rock fragments traveling at hurricane speed — that struck the port city of Saint-Pierre at approximately 8:02 a.m. The eruption killed an estimated 28,000 to 30,000 people within minutes, destroying the city and leaving only two known survivors within its limits. The disaster led to the scientific classification of pelean-type eruptions.
Key Figures
Ludger SylbarisLéon Compère-LéandreThomas PrentisAlfred LacroixLouis Mouttet
Locations
Mount PeléeSaint-PierreFort-de-FranceLe Carbet
Topics
volcanoeruptionMartiniqueSaint-Pierre
Connected Events — 2 Connections
Mount Pelee on Martinique sits on the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc created by this Cretaceous subduction zone Formation of the Caribbean Volcanic Arc
Pelee's pyroclastic flows paralleled the destruction mechanism that killed Herculaneum's residents Eruption of Vesuvius Buries Pompeii and Herculaneum
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