Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783
Abstract In the summer of 1783, a sulphuric, dry fog that lasted for several weeks covered much of Europe. As a result, the sun, moon and other celestial objects appeared 'blood-red'. Speculation in Europe was rife as to the cause of this unusual weather. In Iceland, the Laki fissure had e...
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Liverpool University Press
2022
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/ge/2022/00000015/00000003/art00004 |
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crliverpoolup:10.3197/ge.2022.150302 2023-12-17T10:32:12+01:00 Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 Kleemann, Katrin 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/ge/2022/00000015/00000003/art00004 en eng Liverpool University Press Global Environment volume 15, issue 3, page 456-489 ISSN 1973-3739 2053-7352 Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law History Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2022 crliverpoolup https://doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302 2023-11-17T14:54:19Z Abstract In the summer of 1783, a sulphuric, dry fog that lasted for several weeks covered much of Europe. As a result, the sun, moon and other celestial objects appeared 'blood-red'. Speculation in Europe was rife as to the cause of this unusual weather. In Iceland, the Laki fissure had erupted; from June 1783 to February 1784, it released the greatest volume of lava of any eruption on planet Earth in the last millennium. The ejected gases travelled to Europe and beyond via the jet stream. Unaware of the Icelandic eruption, some contemporaries from the German Territories hypothesised that the dry fog emanated from a local source, namely one or more supposed German volcanoes. This paper traces the reports of these 'eruptions' from the perspective of environmental history and presents translations of pertinent newspaper articles that have, for the most part, remained unstudied, in order to evaluate the possible reasons for the emergence of this idea. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Liverpool University Press (via Crossref) Laki ENVELOPE(-18.237,-18.237,64.070,64.070) Global Environment 15 3 456 489 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Liverpool University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crliverpoolup |
language |
English |
topic |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law History Global and Planetary Change |
spellingShingle |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law History Global and Planetary Change Kleemann, Katrin Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 |
topic_facet |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law History Global and Planetary Change |
description |
Abstract In the summer of 1783, a sulphuric, dry fog that lasted for several weeks covered much of Europe. As a result, the sun, moon and other celestial objects appeared 'blood-red'. Speculation in Europe was rife as to the cause of this unusual weather. In Iceland, the Laki fissure had erupted; from June 1783 to February 1784, it released the greatest volume of lava of any eruption on planet Earth in the last millennium. The ejected gases travelled to Europe and beyond via the jet stream. Unaware of the Icelandic eruption, some contemporaries from the German Territories hypothesised that the dry fog emanated from a local source, namely one or more supposed German volcanoes. This paper traces the reports of these 'eruptions' from the perspective of environmental history and presents translations of pertinent newspaper articles that have, for the most part, remained unstudied, in order to evaluate the possible reasons for the emergence of this idea. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kleemann, Katrin |
author_facet |
Kleemann, Katrin |
author_sort |
Kleemann, Katrin |
title |
Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 |
title_short |
Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 |
title_full |
Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 |
title_fullStr |
Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783 |
title_sort |
active volcanoes, active imaginations: fire-spitting mountains and subterraneous roars in the german territories in the summer of 1783 |
publisher |
Liverpool University Press |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/ge/2022/00000015/00000003/art00004 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-18.237,-18.237,64.070,64.070) |
geographic |
Laki |
geographic_facet |
Laki |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Global Environment volume 15, issue 3, page 456-489 ISSN 1973-3739 2053-7352 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302 |
container_title |
Global Environment |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
456 |
op_container_end_page |
489 |
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1785585747833651200 |