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Volcano

Page history last edited by Patricia McDaniels 13 years, 3 months ago

What is a volcano?

 

 A volcano is a hole in the Earth’s crust that lava and other Earth debris come out of a lot of the time or even hundreds of years apart. A volcano may be active, dormant or extinct. Active means it is erupting and gases and lava are flowing. Dormant means it is asleep but could awaken and become active. Extinct means there is no longer any danger of the volcano erupting.

 

A volcano has 3 main characteristics

1. Cone shaped mountain

2. Formed by rock or ash thrown from the inside of the earth

3. At times, opening or depression at top

 

There are volcanoes all over the world.  They are above sea level and below the oceans.  What a volcano actually is a hole in the Earth’s crust that lava and other Earth debris come out of a lot of the time or even hundreds of years apart.   A lot of volcanoes are in a form of a mountain or a hill that have a crater from past eruptions.  Many times, before an eruption, there is activity in the Earth’s surface that make the ground shake or even the crater in the volcano grow.  Scientists are getting better at predicting eruptions.  This can save many lives. 

Types of Volcanoes and How are Volcanoes Made

There are a few different types of volcano landforms in the world.  The volcanoes are classified by scientist by their shapes.   There are actually 5 different types of volcanoes but we will only focus on the 3 main types.   The three types are composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes, or cinder cone volcanoes.

The cinder cones are small volcanoes with steep sides.   Even though they are small, these are the ones you probably hear about.  They are very explosive and made of ash and rock.  Most of the cinder cones are small and less than 500 meters high.  A famous cinder cone is Sunset Crater Volcano in Arizona.

A shield is a low and broad volcano that usually has a very wide crater (a dent in the Earth’s surface).  It is formed from thin layers of lava after consistent low-grade eruptions.  The largest volcano in the world is a shield volcano.  It is located in Hawaii.

Composite volcanoes are the tallest type of volcano.  They look very impressive but do usually have quiet and slow lava flows.  They sometimes have small eruptions that cause ash and rock to go flying.  One of the most famous volcanoes in the world is a composite volcano.  It is Mount Fuji in Japan.

 

Volcanoes are found all over the world. Many of the Hawaiian Islands have volcano. There are even volcanoes in cold areas like Alaska. A famous volcano in the United States is Mount St. Helen in the state of Washington. On May 18, 1980 when Mt. St. Helen's erupted people in the state of Washington found out just how powerful and destructive a volcano can be. The earth shook like an earthquake when she erupted. Ash and gasses spread quickly for miles and miles. The lava that flowed was so hot that it burned down everything in its path. Thousands of acres were destroyed when Mt. St. Helens erupted. When a volcano is active there is no telling when it will stop erupting. It could go on for years before calming down.

Examples of famous Volcano Landforms:

Mt. St. Helen in Washington
Mount Fuji of Japan

 

 

 

                                                            Mount Saint Helen

Mount Vesuvius, located in southern Italy, is the only volcano in mainland Europe to have erupted in the last 100 years. It is most famous, however, for its eruption in 79 AD that completely buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in layers of burning ash. According to the only known surviving witness, Pliny the Younger, the cloud of ash that descended upon the cities may have been 20 miles high.

  Despite the fact that Mount Vesuvius is not currently erupting, it is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because 3,000,000 people live near it.

 

 



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