Plinian

British  

/ ˈplɪnɪən /

adjective

1. geology (of a volcanic eruption) characterized by repeated explosions

---

Etymology

Origin of Plinian

C20: named after _Pliny the Younger, who described such eruptions

Example Sentences

A 550-year-old Plinian eruption at El Chichón Volcano, Chiapas, Mexico: explosive volcanism linked to reheating of the magma reservoir.

From Nature • Dec. 12, 2017

The mountain is at Alert Level 2: A full-scale Plinian eruption may be unlikely, but smaller events would be very hard to predict.

From Slate • Feb. 29, 2012

While at Edinburgh, Darwin was a member of the Plinian Society, and read a couple of papers on some observations in natural history.

From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14 The New Era; A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents by Lord, John

A notice of the ciliated germs of Flustra, communicated to the Plinian Society in 1826, was the first fruits of Darwin's half century of scientific work.

From Darwiniana : Essays — Volume 02 by Huxley, Thomas Henry

I never could come into the custom of envelopes; 'tis a modern foppery; the Plinian correspondence gives no hint of such.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Lamb, Mary