They are also similar to Hawaiian lava fountains in that both eruptive types produce sustained eruption columns maintained by the growth of bubbles that move up at about the same speed as the magma surrounding them.Regions affected by Plinian eruptions are subjected to heavy pumice airfall affecting an area 0.5 to 50 km3 (0 to 12 cu mi) in size. The material in the ash plume eventually finds its way back to the ground, covering the landscape in a thick layer of many cubic kilometers of ash. However the most dangerous eruptive feature are the pyroclastic flows generated by material collapse, which move down the side of the mountain at extreme speeds of up to 700 km (435 mi) per hour and with the ability to extend the reach of the eruption hundreds of kilometers. The ejection of hot material from the volcanos summit melts snowbanks and ice deposits on the volcano, which mixes with tephra to form lahars, fast moving mudflows with the consistency of wet concrete that move at the speed of a river rapid.Major Plinian eruptive events include:

The AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under a layer of ash and tephra. It is the model Plinian eruption. Mount Vesuvius has erupted several times since then. Its last eruption was in 1944 and caused problems for the allied armies as they advanced through Italy. It was the contemporary report by Pliny the Younger that led scientists to refer to Vesuvian eruptions as "Plinian".
The products of phreatomagmatic eruptions are believed to be more regular in shape and finer grained than the products of magmatic eruptions because of the differences in eruptive mechanisms.There is debate about the exact nature of phreatomagmatic eruptions, and some scientists believe that fuel-coolant reactions may be more critical to the explosive nature than thermal contraction. Fuel coolant reactions may fragment the volcanic material by propagating stress waves, widening cracks and increasing surface area that ultimately leads to rapid cooling and explosive contraction-driven eruptions. Surtseyan
A Surtseyan (or hydrovolcanic) eruption is a type of volcanic eruption characterized by shallow-water interactions between water and lava, named after its most famous example, the eruption and formation of the island of Surtsey off the coast of Iceland in 1963. Surtseyan eruptions are the "wet" equivalent of ground-based Strombolian eruptions, but because they take place in water they are much more explosive. As water is heated by lava, it flashes into steam and expands violently, fragmenting the magma it contacts into fine-grained ash. Surtseyan eruptions are typical of shallow-water volcanic oceanic islands, but they are not confined to seamounts. They can happen on land as well, where rising magma that comes into contact with an aquifer (water-bearing rock formation) at shallow levels under the volcano can cause them.