A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1367 entries
solfatara
A solfatara is a volcanic vent that emits sulfurous gases and steam rather than lava, at temperatures well below an eruption. The ground around it is stained yellow with sulfur crystals condensing out of the gas, the rock is bleached and crumbling where acid has attacked it, and the whole area smells strongly of rotten eggs. It is a late stage in the life of a volcano rather than a sign of imminent activity.
Etymology
The word is Italian and is the name of a specific place: the Solfatara crater at Pozzuoli near Naples, in the Campi Flegrei volcanic field, which has been steaming and reeking since antiquity. The place name became the general term, which is a route several volcanic words have taken, including fumarole, maar, and caldera.
Notes
The Romans called the Pozzuoli crater the marketplace of Vulcan and quarried sulfur and alum there. Extremely acid, extremely hot vents like these are where several of the most heat-tolerant organisms known were found.