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SOLFATARA

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 360 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SOLFATARA , a volcanic vent emitting vapours chiefly of sulphurous See also:

character, whence the name, from the See also:Italian solfo (See also:sulphur). The typical example is the famous Solfatara, near Puzzuoli, in the Phlegraean See also:Fields, See also:west of See also:Naples. This is an old See also:crater which has not been in active eruption since A.D. 1198, but which is continuously exhaling heated vapours, chiefly See also:hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide and See also:steam. These issue from orifices in the crust, on the walls of which are yellow incrustations of sublimed sulphur, sometimes See also:orange-red by association with See also:arsenic sulphide, whilst the trachytic rocks of the See also:volcano are bleached and corroded by the effluent vapours, with formation of such products as See also:gypsum and See also:alum. Sal ammoniac occurs among the sublimates. The See also:term solfatara has been extended to all dormant volcanoes of this type; and a ' volcano which has ceased to emit See also:lava or ashes but still evolves heated vapours, is said to have passed into the " solfataric See also:stage." Examples are to be found in many. volcanic districts. By See also:French geologists the term soufriere is used instead of the Italian solfatara.

End of Article: SOLFATARA

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