Volcanic eruptions are divided into two main types: effusive, where lava flows and escapes, and explosive, where the lava is fragmented by the explosion of the bubbles contained inside it.
Explosive eruptions are in turn divided into 5-6 main types according to their energy, the volume of pyroclastic products emitted and how far they travel from the eruptive centre
In the presence of prevalent effusive activity, we have both Hawaiian eruptions, typical of the Hawaiian archipelago, and Icelandic eruptions. These are mainly characterised by lava flow effusion and low explosiveness, with bombs and lapilli not going beyond 2 km from the eruptive centre. In the case of Icelandic type eruptions, there is no real volcano, but there is an eruptive fissure, which can even be several tens of kilometres long.
In the presence of both effusive and explosive eruptions, but with prevalence of the former, we talk about Strombolian eruptions, typical of the island of Stromboli, where the products of the explosive activity do not disperse for further than 10 km from the point of emission.
In the presence of mixed effusive and explosive activity, but with prevalence of the latter, we have Vulcanian eruptions (typical of the island of Vulcano), with low explosiveness and minor dispersion of pyroclastic products (< 20 km), and Plinian eruptions, with extremely high explosiveness and dispersion of the pyroclastic products over 20 km from the point of emission.
Pelean eruptions are highly explosive, with fiery clouds descending along the sides of the volcano.
