The 1951 eruption of Mount Lamington, Papua

The Pelean type of volcanic eruption, with its swift and deadly cloud of hot,
gas-charged particles, was first brought to the attention of a horrified world in 1902, when 29,000 people perished in a
few minutes in the morning of May 8th, at St. Pierre on Martinique in the West Indies, only sixteen hours after an eruption
of the same type at La Soufriere on nearby St. Vincent had killed 1,650 of the inhabitants and devastated a large area of
that island. These eruptions were described by Lacroix, Hovey, Anderson, Flett, and others, and since then several eminent
vulcanologists have studied and reported on this fortunately fairly rare type of volcanic activity and the phenomena
associated with it. Notable amongst these later works are Fenner's description of the Valley of Ten
Thousand Smokes at Mt. Katmai in Alaska, Perret's masterly analysis of the eruptions of Mont Pelee in 1929-32,
and the work Stehn and Neumann van Padang in the East Indies. The Mt. Lamington eruption which is the subject of
this bulletin is one of the most outstanding examples of the Pelean type of eruption that has occurred in historic
times. It was remarkable both as a: manifestation of volcanic violence and because of the character and calibre of
the observations that were subsequently made. The area had no volcanic history; local native folk lore contained no
legend of eruption, nor were any surface expressions of volcanic activity known in the area. Mt.Lamington was not
merely regarded as extinct-it was not even considered as a volcano at all. The presence of a crater had not been
recognized-it had never been examined by a geologist-and, being completely open on the northern side, it appeared
only as one of the heads of the stream system of the Ambogo river, which rises in a series of rugged hills. It is
doubtful if the violence of the eruption itself has been exceeded in modern times by any observed Pelean-type eruption,
although Mount Pelee had a more impressive record of human destruction, owing to the particularly vulnerable position of
the town of St. Pierre with respect to the crater. Opportunities for recording the phenomena associated with the Mt.
Lamington eruption were exceptional: the main outburst was observed and photographed from a passing aircraft at close
(almost too close) quarters. A qualified vulcanologist began recording events on the spot barely 24 hours after the main explosion,
and observations were continuous from then onwards. A sensitive seismograph was installed at Sangara plantation, 8t miles from the
crater, within eighteen days of the eruption. Skilfully manned aircraft were available for daily inspection, photography and recording
of crater phenomena and dome growth. The full co-operation and support of the administrative authorities were accorded throughout
the investigation to vulcanologist Taylor and the other scientists associated with him. Several reliable observers living 8 to
10 miles from the crater survived the blast and provided details of the eruption and of pre-eruption events. The author of this
Bulletin, who combines a fearless devotion in the field to his fascinating but unruly subject with a considerable talent for
narrative writing, has supplemented his detailed observations of the progress of the eruptive series with painstaking analysis of a
mass of seismograph and other records. The results presented in this Bulletin constitute an important contribution to the literature
of volcanoes and volcanic processes.

培雷式火山喷发（Pelean type of volcanic eruption）以裹挟灼热含气粒子的迅疾致命云团为标志性特征，于1902年首次令全世界为之震惊：当年5月8日清晨，西印度群岛马提尼克岛圣皮埃尔市在短短数分钟内便有29000人丧生，而仅16小时前，邻近圣文森特岛的拉苏弗里耶尔火山发生同类喷发，造成1650名居民死亡、大片区域被毁。此次喷发由拉克鲁瓦、霍维、安德森、弗利特等人记录在案，此后数位知名火山学家对这种虽属罕见但危害极大的火山活动及其相关现象展开研究与报告，其中颇具代表性的成果包括：芬纳对美国阿拉斯加卡特迈火山“万烟谷”的描述、佩雷对1929至1932年培雷火山喷发的精湛分析，以及斯特恩与诺伊曼·范帕当在东印度群岛开展的相关研究。作为本次公报研究对象的拉明顿火山喷发，便是历史记载中最典型的培雷式火山喷发案例之一，其引人注目之处不仅在于火山爆发的猛烈程度，更在于后续开展的观测工作的质量与深度。该区域此前无任何火山活动历史：当地原住民口头传说中并无火山喷发的记载，区域内也从未发现火山活动的地表迹象，拉明顿火山不仅被认定为死火山，甚至从未被视作火山。此前无人辨识出其火山口，也从未有地质学家对其进行过考察，加之其北侧完全敞开，仅被视为源自崎岖丘陵的安博戈河水系的源头之一。尽管培雷火山因圣皮埃尔市地处火山口下风的脆弱位置，造成了更为惨重的人员伤亡记录，但拉明顿火山喷发的猛烈程度，在现代观测到的培雷式喷发中恐无出其右者。此次拉明顿火山喷发的观测条件极为难得：主爆发阶段被一架途经的飞机近距离（甚至过于接近）观测并拍摄下来。一位资深火山学家在主爆炸发生仅24小时后便抵达现场开展记录，自此观测工作持续不间断。喷发发生后18天内，一台灵敏地震仪便被安装在距火山口8英里的桑加拉种植园。技术娴熟的机组人员每日驾机对火山口现象与穹丘生长情况进行巡查、拍摄与记录。在整个调查过程中，行政当局始终为火山学家泰勒及其团队提供了全力配合与支持。数位居住在距火山口8至10英里区域的可靠目击者在爆炸中幸存，为研究人员提供了喷发过程与喷发前事件的详细信息。本公报作者不仅以无畏的献身精神投身野外研究，深入探索这一迷人却难以捉摸的课题，更兼具出色的叙事才能，他在对喷发序列进程进行细致观测的基础上，还对海量地震仪记录与其他观测资料开展了精心细致的分析。本公报所呈现的研究成果，为火山学与火山活动过程相关文献做出了重要贡献。