Plinian Eruption

A Plinian eruption is a violent, sustained explosive eruption driven by highly viscous, gas-rich magma that fragments almost completely on reaching the surface, throwing an eruption column of ash and pumice tens of kilometres into the stratosphere, often for hours, before the column can partially collapse into fast-moving pyroclastic flows. It is named for Pliny the Younger, whose eyewitness letters describing the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii and killed his uncle Pliny the Elder remain the earliest detailed account of the eruption style geologists later named after him. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/