A volcano is a vent on the Earth or another celestial body’s surface from which hot gases, ash and magma (molten rock) are ejected. Magma emerges as lava.
The word “volcano” comes from the name of the Roman God of Fire, Vulcan.
A volcano has enough power to shoot ash as high as 50 kilometers (31 miles) into the atmosphere.
Volcanoes are needed to constantly replenish the atmosphere with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. They also create wonderfully fertile soil, which is why so many people choose to live next to sleeping volcanoes.
Supervolcanos usually have a large caldera and can produce devastation on an enormous, sometimes continental, scale. Examples include Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park, USA, Lake Taupo in New Zealand and Mount Tambor in Indonesia. The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambor was the last eruption of a supervolcano.
Stratovolcanoes or composite volcanoes are tall conical mountains composed of lava flows and other ejecta in alternate layers, The Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala is a stratovolcano, mountainous with a towering peak. The gases in a stratovolcano build up to exert massive pressure and violent eruption.
Shield volcanoes, so named for their broad, shield-like profiles generally do not explode. catastrophically. Kilauea volcano in Hawaii is a "shield volcano" flat and wide like a huge shield lying on the ground. The lava from shield volcanoes move more slowly than from a stratovolcano.
Volcanoes were much more volatile and dangerous before humans populated this planet. They had to be violent in order to kick start our atmosphere and soil for plants and animals to thrive on.
Mount Vesuvius is a volcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. An eruption in AD 79 destroyed the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum killing over 1,000 people.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was described in such accurate and useful detail by Pliny The Younger, that vulcanologists now call eruptions of its kind "Plinian eruptions."
The 1257 Samalas eruption was a major volcanic eruption of the Samalas volcano, next to Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. It may have triggered the Little Ice Age and famines in Europe. Geologists rank it as the most powerful eruption of the last 7,000 years.
The largest volcanic eruption in recent history in South America was recorded on February 19, 1600 when Peru’s Huaynaputina exploded. It belched 12 cubic kilometres of ash in the air for two weeks. This had a global impact, causing some of Europe’s coldest winters and a devastating famine in Russia.
Mount Tambora, a volcano located on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia, began one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recorded history on April 10, 1815, killing at least 71,000 people. The eruption continued for several days, with the most explosive phase occurring on April 15, 1815. The eruption sent huge plumes of ash, gas, and debris into the atmosphere, which caused global climate anomalies and led to a "year without a summer" in many parts of the world in 1816.
The word “volcano” comes from the name of the Roman God of Fire, Vulcan.
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| New Zealand volcano Pixiebay |
VOLCANIC FEATURES
A volcano has enough power to shoot ash as high as 50 kilometers (31 miles) into the atmosphere.
Volcanoes are needed to constantly replenish the atmosphere with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. They also create wonderfully fertile soil, which is why so many people choose to live next to sleeping volcanoes.
Supervolcanos usually have a large caldera and can produce devastation on an enormous, sometimes continental, scale. Examples include Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park, USA, Lake Taupo in New Zealand and Mount Tambor in Indonesia. The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambor was the last eruption of a supervolcano.
Stratovolcanoes or composite volcanoes are tall conical mountains composed of lava flows and other ejecta in alternate layers, The Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala is a stratovolcano, mountainous with a towering peak. The gases in a stratovolcano build up to exert massive pressure and violent eruption.
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| October 1974 eruption of Volcán de Fuego |
Shield volcanoes, so named for their broad, shield-like profiles generally do not explode. catastrophically. Kilauea volcano in Hawaii is a "shield volcano" flat and wide like a huge shield lying on the ground. The lava from shield volcanoes move more slowly than from a stratovolcano.
FAMOUS VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Volcanoes were much more volatile and dangerous before humans populated this planet. They had to be violent in order to kick start our atmosphere and soil for plants and animals to thrive on.
Mount Vesuvius is a volcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. An eruption in AD 79 destroyed the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum killing over 1,000 people.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was described in such accurate and useful detail by Pliny The Younger, that vulcanologists now call eruptions of its kind "Plinian eruptions."
 |
| Vesuvius erupting. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection |
The 1257 Samalas eruption was a major volcanic eruption of the Samalas volcano, next to Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. It may have triggered the Little Ice Age and famines in Europe. Geologists rank it as the most powerful eruption of the last 7,000 years.
The largest volcanic eruption in recent history in South America was recorded on February 19, 1600 when Peru’s Huaynaputina exploded. It belched 12 cubic kilometres of ash in the air for two weeks. This had a global impact, causing some of Europe’s coldest winters and a devastating famine in Russia.
Mount Tambora, a volcano located on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia, began one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recorded history on April 10, 1815, killing at least 71,000 people. The eruption continued for several days, with the most explosive phase occurring on April 15, 1815. The eruption sent huge plumes of ash, gas, and debris into the atmosphere, which caused global climate anomalies and led to a "year without a summer" in many parts of the world in 1816.
Another of the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history happened on August 26, 1883 on Krakatoa, a small, volcanic island west of Sumatra in Indonesia. Heard 3,000 miles (4,828 kms) away, the explosions threw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles (80 kns) into the air, created 120-foot tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.
The sound made by the eruption of Krakatoa was so loud that if it was to happen in Ireland, it would sound like cannon fire in New York City.
Martinique's Mount Pelée begun the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century on May 7, 1902. It completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people, wiping the city off the map.
Ludger Sylbaris, a man thrown into solitary confinement after a bar brawl, survived the Mount Pelée eruption because his cell was bombproof and poorly ventilated. He became one of only three known survivors of the event, and his prison cell still stands today.
The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century took place on June 6, 1912 on the Alaska Peninsula. The 60-hour-long Novarupta eruption expelled 3.1 to 3.6 cubic miles (13 to 15 km3) of ash, thirty times as much as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and created the Novarupta lava dome.
On May 18, 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in Skamania County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. The eruptions lasted nine hours, leaving a one-mile-wide crater where its peak had been. 57 people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. More than 6 million trees were uprooted or flattened by the blast.
The volcanologist David Johnson had fought to keep the summit Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake visitor-free for two months before the cataclysm. Instead of 1000 deaths there was 57; him among them. Johnson radioed "...Vancouver, this is it" seconds before he was incinerated.
Harry Glicken was devastated when his mentor David Johnson died during the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980. Glicken met the same fate 11 years later during the eruption of Mt Unzen in Japan. Glicken and Johnson are the only American volcanologists to have died in volcanic eruptions.
Of the world's volcanic activity, 90 per cent takes place in its oceans. The South Pacific has the largest concentration of active volcanoes, with 1,133 volcanic cones identified in an area the size of New York State.
The chief volcanic regions on land are the central Andes (Chile): New Zealand's North Island: Hawaii: Japan and Antarctica.
Around five per cent of the world’s population live within the danger zones of active volcanoes.
The 25 tallest volcanoes in the world are all in South America.
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano in the world.
The only continent without an active volcano is Australia.
The last volcanic eruption in Britain was in the Scottish Highlands around 55 million years ago.
Ben Nevis is an extinct volcano.
Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system with hundreds of volcanoes and volcanic geysers. Active volcanoes constantly spew material onto Io's surface. Its volcanic eruptions are so powerful that they can be seen with large telescopes on Earth.
The highest volcanic eruption detected in our solar system was a 310-mile (500 km) plume emerging from Io, in 2001 by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.
Picture below is active lava flows in the Io volcanic region Tvashtar Paterae (blank region represents saturated areas in the original data). Images taken by Galileo in November 1999 and February 2000.
The largest known volcano in the Solar System, at 88,000ft (26,822 metres) is Olympus Mons on Mars. At 16 miles high (26 kms) and 374 miles (602 kms) wide, is so heavy that it sits in a depression caused by the volcano's weight pressing down on the crust in the area.
Olympus Mons has such a gradual slope that someone standing at the base wouldn't be able to see the summit because it's beyond the horizon.
The Stromboli Volcano in Italy is the world's most active volcano and has been in a near-constant state of eruption for around 2,000 years.
In 1935 the U.S. 23rd Bomb Squadron dropped twenty 600-pound bombs in the path of a volcano's lava flow, thus saving the city of Hilo, Hawaii by diverting the lava away from the city.
On April 1, 1974 a local prankster Oliver "Porky" Bickar took 70 tires to the top of Mt. Edgecumbe, a volcano located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska. and lit them on fire. The locals thought the 400-year dormant volcano was erupting and a helicopter was sent up to check it out. When the helicopter arrived, the pilot found the words "APRIL FOOL" spray painted on the snow.
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had a volcano built at his 148 acre estate in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, in 2006. With fireworks and a small earthquake, it was intended as a surprise at a party. Neighbors, unaware, rang the fire brigade.
Fine-grained volcanic ash can be found as an ingredient in some toothpastes.
Source Daily Express
The sound made by the eruption of Krakatoa was so loud that if it was to happen in Ireland, it would sound like cannon fire in New York City.
 |
| An 1888 lithograph of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. |
Martinique's Mount Pelée begun the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century on May 7, 1902. It completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people, wiping the city off the map.
Ludger Sylbaris, a man thrown into solitary confinement after a bar brawl, survived the Mount Pelée eruption because his cell was bombproof and poorly ventilated. He became one of only three known survivors of the event, and his prison cell still stands today.
 |
| 1902 eruption |
The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century took place on June 6, 1912 on the Alaska Peninsula. The 60-hour-long Novarupta eruption expelled 3.1 to 3.6 cubic miles (13 to 15 km3) of ash, thirty times as much as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and created the Novarupta lava dome.
On May 18, 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in Skamania County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. The eruptions lasted nine hours, leaving a one-mile-wide crater where its peak had been. 57 people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. More than 6 million trees were uprooted or flattened by the blast.
The volcanologist David Johnson had fought to keep the summit Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake visitor-free for two months before the cataclysm. Instead of 1000 deaths there was 57; him among them. Johnson radioed "...Vancouver, this is it" seconds before he was incinerated.
Harry Glicken was devastated when his mentor David Johnson died during the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980. Glicken met the same fate 11 years later during the eruption of Mt Unzen in Japan. Glicken and Johnson are the only American volcanologists to have died in volcanic eruptions.
LOCATIONS
Of the world's volcanic activity, 90 per cent takes place in its oceans. The South Pacific has the largest concentration of active volcanoes, with 1,133 volcanic cones identified in an area the size of New York State.
The chief volcanic regions on land are the central Andes (Chile): New Zealand's North Island: Hawaii: Japan and Antarctica.
Around five per cent of the world’s population live within the danger zones of active volcanoes.
The 25 tallest volcanoes in the world are all in South America.
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano in the world.
 |
| Mount Erebus By Ehquionest - Own work |
The only continent without an active volcano is Australia.
The last volcanic eruption in Britain was in the Scottish Highlands around 55 million years ago.
Ben Nevis is an extinct volcano.
VOLCANOES ON OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES
Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system with hundreds of volcanoes and volcanic geysers. Active volcanoes constantly spew material onto Io's surface. Its volcanic eruptions are so powerful that they can be seen with large telescopes on Earth.
The highest volcanic eruption detected in our solar system was a 310-mile (500 km) plume emerging from Io, in 2001 by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.
Picture below is active lava flows in the Io volcanic region Tvashtar Paterae (blank region represents saturated areas in the original data). Images taken by Galileo in November 1999 and February 2000.
The largest known volcano in the Solar System, at 88,000ft (26,822 metres) is Olympus Mons on Mars. At 16 miles high (26 kms) and 374 miles (602 kms) wide, is so heavy that it sits in a depression caused by the volcano's weight pressing down on the crust in the area.
Olympus Mons has such a gradual slope that someone standing at the base wouldn't be able to see the summit because it's beyond the horizon.
FUN VOLCANO FACTS
The Stromboli Volcano in Italy is the world's most active volcano and has been in a near-constant state of eruption for around 2,000 years.
In 1935 the U.S. 23rd Bomb Squadron dropped twenty 600-pound bombs in the path of a volcano's lava flow, thus saving the city of Hilo, Hawaii by diverting the lava away from the city.
On April 1, 1974 a local prankster Oliver "Porky" Bickar took 70 tires to the top of Mt. Edgecumbe, a volcano located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska. and lit them on fire. The locals thought the 400-year dormant volcano was erupting and a helicopter was sent up to check it out. When the helicopter arrived, the pilot found the words "APRIL FOOL" spray painted on the snow.
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had a volcano built at his 148 acre estate in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, in 2006. With fireworks and a small earthquake, it was intended as a surprise at a party. Neighbors, unaware, rang the fire brigade.
Fine-grained volcanic ash can be found as an ingredient in some toothpastes.
Source Daily Express
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