fumarole

Fumaroles escape through Fourpeaked Glacier covering Fourpeaked Volcano in Alaska on September 24, 2006

A fumarole (Latin fumus, smoke) is an opening in Earth's (or any other astronomical body's) crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulfide. The name solfatara, from the Italian solfo, sulfur (via the Sicilian dialect), is given to fumaroles that emit sulfurous gases.

Fumaroles may occur along tiny cracks or long fissures, in chaotic clusters or fields, and on the surfaces of lava flows and thick deposits of pyroclastic flows. A fumarole field is an area of thermal springs and gas vents where magma or hot igneous rocks at shallow depth are releasing gases or interacting with groundwater. From the perspective of groundwater, fumaroles could be described as a hot spring that boils off all its water before the water reaches the surface.

A fumarole at Halema`uma`u crater

A good example of fumarole activity on Earth is the famous Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, which was formed during the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska. Initially, there were thousands of fumaroles in the cooling ash from the eruption, but over time most of them have become extinct. Fumaroles may persist for decades or centuries if they are above a persistent heat source, or disappear within weeks to months if they occur atop a fresh volcanic deposit that quickly cools. There are also an estimated four thousand fumaroles within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park.

Another example is an array of fumaroles in the Valley of Desolation in Morne Trois Pitons National Park in Dominica.

A Highly Probable Fumarole on Mars

The formation called Home Plate at Gusev Crater, Mars that was examined by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) named Spirit is highly suspected to be the eroded remains of an ancient and extinct fumarole.^[1]

Other Images

Sulfurous fumaroles, Whakaari/White Island, New Zealand	Sulfur deposits near a fumarole	Fumarole at Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park, Costa Rica	Sampling gases at a fumarole on Mount Baker in Washington, USA.
At Námafjall, Iceland	Sulfur deposits on Vulcano (Eolian islands, Italy)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fumaroles

• Mudpot
• Mud volcano
• Mofetta
• Home Plate (Mars)

References

Other Notes

• USGS Photo Glossary: Fumarole

This volcanology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.