Volcanoes in Portugal

With 4 volcanoes in Portugal there have been a total of 5 significant eruptions over the past 500 years. Over 200 people were killed. The worst volcanic eruption in terms of deaths, destroyed houses and financial damages happened on 09/03/1630 with the eruption of "Furnas". Here, 200 people died.

Out of 9 volcanos in Portugal, 7 are considered still active. Additionally there are three active submarine volcanoes.

Other natural hazards in Portugal:
› Earthquake
› Tsunamis
› Hurricanes
› Current volcanoes worldwide

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Significant volcanic eruptions in Portugal in the last 500 years

The following list shows all volcanic eruptions of the last 500 years with significant damage. The column "VEI" stands for the volcano explosivity index, which represents the strength of the eruption from a geological point of view. This takes into account the height and volume of the rocks ejected. The scale ranges from 0-8, with the severity of the eruption increasing tenfold with each value. For example, a VEI of 1 means that the volcano throws lava and rock masses of 100,000 to 1 million cubic meters up to 1 kilometer high. From VEI 8, a volcano is considered a super volcano. Here, more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of tephra are thrown to altitudes of more than 25 kilometers.

The highest explosivity index in Portugal reached in the review period was VEI 4 in 1630. The volcano Furnas threw tephramasses of at least 100 million cubic meters over 10 kilometers high. Volcanoes of this size do not normally erupt more frequently than every 10 years.

Eruption	Volcano	VEI	Deaths
06/24/1800	San Jorge	1	9
02/01/1718	Pico	2	2
04/24/1672	Fayal	2	3
09/03/1630	Furnas	4	200
05/01/1580	San Jorge	3	10

All volcanoes in Portugal

Volcano	Elevation	Status	Last eruption
Agua de Pau	948 m	Active
Faial	1043 m	Active
Fournaise	805 m	Active
Graciosa	402 m	Solfatara stage
Guilherme Moniz	808 m	Solfatara stage
Pico	2351 m	Active	02/01/1718
San Jorge	1053 m	Active	06/24/1800
Santa Barbara	1023 m	Active
Sete Cidades	856 m	Active

These statistics are based on datas from the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP), and the Significant Volcanic Eruptions Database of the National Geophysical Data Center (NOAA) / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) doi:10.7289/V5JW8BSH. Several data have been summarized and translated.

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