V olcanoes

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet’s surface or crust, which allows hot magma,
volcanic ash and gases to escape from belom the surface.
Erupting volcanoes can pose mnay hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption.
Large eruptions can affect temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obsure the sun and
cool the Earth’s lower atmosphere or tropospere; however, they also absorb heat radiated up
from the Earth, thereby warning the stratophere.

Popular classification of volcanos

A popular way of classifying magmatic volcanoes is by their frequency of eruption, with those
that erupt regularly called active, those that have erupted in historical times but are now quiet
called dormant or inactive, and those that have not erupted in historical times called extinct.

Volcanic features
The structur and behaviour of volcanoes depends on a number of factors. Some volcanoes have
rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater, whereas others present
landscape features such as massive plateaus.

 Fissure vent  Lava dome

Flat, linear cracks through which lava Build by slow eruptions of highly viscous
emerges lavas

 Shield volcano Can produce violent, explosive eruptions

Low and broad
Los-viscosity lava that can flow a great
distance
Don’t generally explode catastrophically
 Strato-volcano
Tall conical mountains composed of lava
flows and other ejecta
Greatest hazard to civilization

Components of a volcanic eruption

Airbone Earthbound

Ash Lava
Gases and Scoria
steam Tepra
Pyroclast
Scoria

Figure 1 volcanic ejecta type

Deadliest volcanic eruptions
Volcanic eruptions can be higly explosive, volatile, or neither. Certain volcanoes have undergone catastrophic eruptions, killing
contless numbers of people.

Rank Event Location Date Death toll Type

1 Mount Tambora Sumbawa, Indonesia April 10, 1815 92,000 Strato-volcano
2 Krakatoa Krakotoa, Indonesia August 26-7-1883 36,000 Caldera
3 Mount Vesuvius Naples, Italy August 24, 79 AD 33,000 Somma
Mount Palée Martinique, Lesser May 8, 1902 29,000 Strato-volcano
4
Antilles
5 Nevado Del Ruzz Caida/Tolima, Columbia Nopember 13, 1985 23,000 Strato-volcano
6 Mount Unzen Kyūshū, Japan 1792 15,000 Strato-volcano
7 Mount Kelut East Java, Indonesia 1586 10,000 Strato-volcano
8 Laki Iceland June 8, 1783 9,350 Fissure vents
Santa Maria Quetzaltenango, 1902 6,000 Strato-volcano
9
Guatemala
10 Mount Kelut East java, Indonesia May 19, 1919 5,115 Strato-volcano
Table 1Eruption sort by death toll

Super-volcano: the great devastor

A super-volcano is a large volcano that usually has a large caldera and can potentially produce devastation on an enormous,
sometimes continental, scale. Such eruptions would be able to cause severe cooling of global temperatures for many years
afterwards because of the huge volumes of sulfur and ash erupted. They are the most dangerous type of volcano. Examples
include Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park and Valles Caldera in New Mexico (both western United States), Lake
Taupo in New Zealand, Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia and Ngorogor Crater in Tanzanaia, Krakatoa near Java and Sumatra,
Indonesia.
Living with volcanoes
There are about 1500 active volcanoes in the world and around 50 of these erupt each year. The 1980
eruption of Mt. Saint Helens (pictured at right, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey), was the only
significant eruption in the contiguous 48 United States in 65 years. In addition to killing 57 people and
thousands of game animals, the eruption caused over a billion U.S. dollars in damage

An Estimated 500 Million People Live Near Active

Volcanoes.