This infobox is meant to be used on pages about volcanic eruptions and on the sections of articles about a volcano about an eruption, but not as the main template on the pages of the volcanoes themselves (for that, use ((Infobox mountain))). The completely expanded form of the template is as follows:
((Infobox eruption
| name =
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| date =
| start_date =
| start_time =
| end_date =
| end_time =
| volcano =
| type =
| location =
| coordinates =
| area =
| volume =
| VEI =
| map =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| impact =
))
| Field name | Input |
|---|---|
| name | Name of the eruption. The conventions for naming relatively modern eruptions is to use "[Year] eruption of [volcano]". See for instance 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. If the timing is incomplete (common for extremely old eruptions), use as specific a time period as you may in place of the year. Many eruptions have names given to them by the scientific community, if one exists, use it! |
| image | Photo of the eruption. A painting or other representation may be used for eruptions preceding the invention of photography. Precede filename with "File:" but do not use [ ] brackets. |
| image_size | Size of the photo; leaving this blank will cause it to default to 250px. |
| caption | Caption for the photo. |
| date | Date of eruption; should be used for one day eruptions or when the start and end dates of an eruption are unknown. |
| start_date | Start date of eruption; should be as specific as allowable. |
| start_time | Start time of eruption; should be as specific as allowable. |
| end_date | End date of eruption; should be as specific as allowable. |
| end_time | End time of eruption; should be as specific as allowable. |
| volcano | Name of the volcano where the eruption occurred. |
| type | Type of eruption, see Types of volcanic eruptions for the different types. |
| location | Location of the volcano, e.g. "Boulder Springs, Colorado" |
| coordinates | Coordinates of the volcano. Use Template:Coord. |
| area | Areal extent of lava or tephra released during an eruption. |
| volume | Amount of lava or tephra released during an eruption. |
| VEI | Volcanic explosivity index, a measure of an eruption's strength similar to the Richter scale; the type of eruption can be inferred off its VEI, and this field also automatically adds the volcano to the respective "VEI-level volcanoes" category. |
| map | Map of the eruption, if there is one. You can use a ((Location map)) template in place of a "hard" image map (use width = 250, with caption = ) |
| map_size | Same as image_size, above. |
| map_caption | Caption for the map. |
| impact | What was the impact of the eruption? How many lives were lost? How much property damage? What was the impact of the eruption on the local and global landscape? Basically, why is the eruption notable? |
Here is an example usage:
| 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of the eruption column, May 18, 1980 | |
| Volcano | Mount St. Helens |
| Start date | March 27, 1980 |
| Start time | 12:36 p.m. PDT |
| Type | Phreatic, Plinian, Peléan |
| Location | Skamania County, Washington 46°12′1″N 122°11′12″W / 46.20028°N 122.18667°W |
| VEI | 5 |
| Impact | 57 deaths, $1.1 billion in property damage; caused a partial collapse of the volcano's flank, deposited ash in 11 states |
 Map of eruption deposits | |
created with this source:
((Infobox eruption
| name = 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
| image = MSH80 eruption mount st helens 05-18-80-dramatic-edit.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Photograph of the [[eruption column]], May 18, 1980
| start_date = March 27, 1980
| start_time = 12:36 p.m. PDT
| volcano = [[Mount St. Helens]]
| type = [[Phreatic eruption|Phreatic]], [[Plinian eruption|Plinian]], [[Peléan eruption|Peléan]]
| location = [[Skamania County, Washington|Skamania County]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
| coordinates = ((coord|46|12|1|N|122|11|12|W|display=inline))
| VEI = 5
| map = St helens map showing 1980 eruption deposits.png
| map_size =
| map_caption = Map of eruption deposits
| impact = 57 deaths, $1.1 billion in property damage; caused a partial collapse of the volcano's flank, deposited ash in 11 states
))
This template can also be used inside an article, in a section dedicated to an important volcanic eruption. In these cases, the volcano, location, coordinates, and map should be left out, as they are redundant to the main article infobox (presumably Template:Infobox mountain). For instance:
| 1914 eruption of Sakurajima | |
|---|---|
 The city of Kagoshima was covered by deep ash during the 1914 eruption of the Sakurajima, which is visible across the bay. | |
| Start date | January 1914 |
| Type | Peléan |
| VEI | 4 |
| Impact | Pre-eruption earthquakes killed at least 35 people; caused an evacuation and significant changes to the local topology. |
Source:
((Infobox eruption
| name = 1914 eruption of Sakurajima
| image = Kagoshima 1914.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = The city of [[Kagoshima]] was covered by deep ash during the 1914 eruption of the Sakurajima, which is visible across the bay.
| start_date = January 1914
| start_time =
| volcano =
| type = [[Peléan eruption|Peléan]]
| location =
| coordinates =
| VEI = 4
| map =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| impact = Pre-eruption earthquakes killed at least 35 people; caused an evacuation and significant changes to the local topology.
))