| Term: | peleean eruption |
| Definition: |
In a Peléan eruption or nuée ardente (glowing cloud) eruptions a large amount of gas, dust, ash, and lava fragments are blown out of a central crater, fall back, and form avalanches that move downslope at speeds as great as 160 km per hour. These eruptions are usually associated with silicic magmas. A name for some pyroclastic flows is nuée ardente (French for ‘glowing cloud’); this was first used to describe the disastrous 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique.[3] These pyroclastic flows glowed red in the dark. [Wikipedia] |