Mofetta

Mofetta (Italian from Latin mephītis, a pestilential

exhalation), is a name applied to a volcanic discharge
consisting chiefly of carbon dioxide, often associated
with other vapours, representing the final phase of
volcanic activity. The Oxford Dictionary of English lists
mofetta as an archaic term for the modern word
fumarole.

The word is used in the plural as mofette, or, following

the French fashion, mofettes. The volcanic vents
yielding the emanations are themselves called mofette. Mofetta with gas bubbles in Soos
nature reserve in the Czech
They are not uncommon in Auvergne and in the Eifel,
Republic
notably on the shore of the Laacher See; whilst other
examples are furnished by the Grotta del Cane, near
Pozzuoli, the Valley of Death in Java, the Death Gulch in
the Yellowstone Park and the series of mofette in
Romania's Harghita and Covasna counties.

Depending on the mineral content of the different

vapours, mofette may be used for therapeutic purposes
as well. As carbon dioxide is heavier than the air,
patients can use it as dry spa, if certain safety
regulations are complied with. The first known record
about mofetta treatment for injuries is from the
sixteenth century, by Paracelsus. Mofetta in Soos nature reserve

Today, the balneo-technology of the dry carbon-dioxide

gas-bath using frozen carbon-dioxide (dry ice) is also used to reproduce the effects of a
natural mofette.

See also
Fumarole

References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mofetta". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press.

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This page was last edited on 2 October 2019, at 20:41 (UTC).

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