Vulcano

Where do Vulcano’s gases come from?

Vulcano’s fumarole gases are not entirely of volcanic origin. La zona del porto di Vulcano
The magma deep below the surface and its gases have temperatures between 850 and 1050 °C. At great depths the gases are dissolved inside the magma, but when it rises above certain altitudes, the decrease in pressure makes them separate. A bit like when you open a bottle of sparkling water: as soon as you unscrew the cap you start to see bubbles rising, bubbles of gas that were previously dissolved in the water. So if the gases were just volcanic, you would not be able to get near them because they would burn you.
In reality only a small part of the fumarole gases derive from the magma. 90% are formed of normal rainwater or aquifer that enter the ground and begin to descend into the depths. The deeper it goes, the temperature of the surrounding soil increases, and when it exceeds 100 °C it turns the water into gas, causing it to rise again and leave the soil at a temperature of 120-140 °C. It is best not to go near the fumaroles.

Vulcano, the youngest of the Aeolian works of art

The senses tell The Stacks of Panarea

The salt lake of Lingua

The senses tell The salt lake of Lingua

The stacks of Panarea

Filicudi, a submerged paradise

The malleability of Vulcano’s mud

The Sciara del Fuoco

The senses tell The Sciara del Fuoco

Myths and legends about volcanoes

The Village of Capo Graziano

Salina, the green island with twin mountains

Pollara, between poetry and beauty

The summit craters

Lipari Castle, “fused” with the lava

Panarea, where sea and volcanoes become sculptors

Seven islands, dozens of volcanoes

Alicudi, where time has stood still

“Strombolian” activity in the place where its definition was born

The underwater morphological elements of the Aeolian Islands

The prehistoric village of Cala Junco

The Thermal Baths of Saint Calogerus

The hidden part of the Aeolian Islands

The underwater fumarolic activity of Lisca Bianca

The senses tell The Village of Capo Graziano

Filicudi: small island, big history

The Cathedral of Lipari and the Norman Cloister of the Benedictine Monastery

Panarea and its history

At the heart of trade in history

“Vulcanian” eruptions

How pumice is formed

The 2002-03 eruption

The polis of the living and the necropolis of the dead

The ancient production of salt

Lipari, where history intertwines with volcanoes to create archaeology

Malvasia delle Lipari DOC

The Gran Cratere of the Fossa: when the volcano becomes a sculptor

Volcanoes as a natural art form

Tsunamis: a not uncommon phenomenon in Stromboli

The senses tell The summit craters

The senses tell The Pumice Quarries of Lipari

Lipari at the centre of Mediterranean history

Between brush strokes of sulphur and clouds of steam: the fumaroles of the port of Vulcano

Stories of the sea and shipwrecks. The wrecks of the Aeolian Islands

Stromboli, the volcano that breathes

The pure white of the pumice quarries

The Aeolian Islands, where volcanology was born

Where do Vulcano’s gases come from?