Volcano:-

Geological landform, consisting of a fissure in the

earth’s crust, above which a cone of volcanic material has
accumulated. At the top of the cone is a bowl-shaped vent
called a crater. The cone is formed by the deposition of
molten or solid matter that flows or is ejected through the
vent from the interior of the earth. The study of volcanoes
and volcanic phenomena is called volcanology.
Most volcanoes are composite landforms built up
partly of lava flows and partly of fragmental materials.
Italy’s Mount Etna, in Sicily, and Mount Vesuvius, near
Naples, are examples of composite cones. In successive
eruptions, the solid materials fall around the vent on the
slopes of the cone, while lava streams issue from the vent
and from fissures on the flanks of the cone. Thus, the cone is
built up of layers of fragmental materials and flows of lava,
all inclined outward away from the vent. Some enormous,
craterlike basins, called calderas, at the top of long-dormant
or extinct volcanoes, are eventually occupied by deep lakes,
such as Crater Lake in Oregon (see Crater Lake National
Park). Some calderas are the result of cataclysmic explosions
that destroy the erupting volcano; the volcanic islands of
Thíra, Greece, and Krakatau, Indonesia, and Crater Lake
are in this category. Others form when the subterranean
magma chamber, emptied by repeated eruptions, can no
longer support the weight of the volcanic pile above it and
so collapses.
 Many volcanoes are born underwater, on the seafloor.
Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius began as submarine
volcanoes, as did the vast cones of the Hawaiian Islands
and many other volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean.

States of Volcanic Activity : -

Some volcanoes are much more active than others. A
few may be said to be in a state of permanent eruption, at
least for the geological present. Stromboli, in the Lipari
Islands near Sicily, has been constantly active since ancient
times. Izalco, in El Salvador, has been constantly active
since it first erupted in 1770. Other constantly active
volcanoes are found in a belt, called the Ring of Fire, that
encircles the Pacific Ocean. A similar belt in Central and
South America includes Miravalles Volcano in Costa Rica,
and Sangay and Cotopaxi in the Andes of Ecuador. Many
other volcanoes, such as Mount Vesuvius, continue in a
state of moderate activity for longer or shorter periods and
then become quiescent, or dormant, for months or years.
Atitlán in Guatemala was active for some 300 years before
1843 and has since been inactive. The eruption that
succeeds prolonged dormancy is usually violent, as was the
1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens in the state of
Washington, after 123 years of quiescence. The massive
eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines during June
1991 came after six centuries of dormancy.
The danger to life posed by active volcanoes is not
limited to eruption of molten rock or showers of ash and
cinders. Disastrous mudflows are an equally serious hazard.
One triggered by an eruption that melted ice and snow on
Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985 claimed more
than 25,000 lives.

Eruption: -
In a violent eruption of a volcano, the lava is highly
charged with steam and other gases, such as carbon dioxide,
hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide, which
continuously escape from the lava’s surface with violent
explosions and rise in a turbid cloud. This cloud frequently
discharges showers of rain. Large and small portions of the
lava are shot upward, forming a fiery fountain of
incandescent drops and fragments, which are classified as
bombs, cinders, or ash, depending on their size and shape.
These objects or particles fall back in showers on the
external slopes of the cone or into the crater, from which
they are again and again ejected. Lightning often plays
through the cloud, especially if the cloud is heavily charged
with dust particles. The lava rises in the vent and finally
flows over the rim of the crater or oozes, as a pasty mass,
through a fissure in the side of the cone. This may mark the
so-called crisis, or crucial point, of the eruption; after a final
ejection of fragmental material, the volcano may then return
to a quiescent state.
The enormous energy expended during an explosive
eruption is shown by the heights to which rocks and ash are
projected. The fine ashes of Krakatau in Indonesia
reportedly were carried by the uprush of gas and vapors to a
height of 27 km (17 mi) when that volcano exploded in
1883. The vapor and dust clouds thus produced can cause
long-lasting atmospheric and climatic effects. For example,
scientists have tentatively linked the globe-encircling dust
clouds thrown up by the explosion of Mexico’s relatively
small El Chichón volcano in 1982 with the widespread
destruction caused by the 1982-83 El Niño disturbance. The
entire summit of Papandayan in Java was blown off during
a great eruption in 1772, as was the summit of Mount
Saint Helens in 1980. The cone of Mount Vesuvius has
frequently been altered, and the explosion of Krakatau
destroyed most of the island formed by the volcano.

Cooling Stage : -
For a long period after it has ceased to erupt either
lava or fragmental materials, a volcano continues to emit
acid gases and vapor in what is called the fumarolic stage.
After this phase, hot springs may arise from the volcano. An
example of this type of activity may be seen in the geysers of
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and in the hot
springs of the North Island of New Zealand (see Geyser).
Eventually, the last traces of volcanic heat may disappear,
and springs of cold water may issue from the volcano and
from the ground in its vicinity. Volcanoes in the U.S. that
have become inactive in recent geological time are Crater
Lake, Mount Shasta in California, Mount Hood in Oregon,
and Mounts Rainier and Baker in the state of Washington.

Inactive Period: -
After becoming inactive, a volcano undergoes
progressive reduction in size through erosion caused by
running water, glaciers, wind, or waves. Finally, the
volcano may become completely obliterated, leaving only a
volcanic pipe, that is, a chimney filled with lava or
fragmental material and extending from the earth’s surface
to the former lava reservoir. The rich diamond mines of
South Africa are found in volcanic pipes.

Lava Flows : -
Under certain circumstances, instead of issuing from a
central vent, lava pours out along vertical fissures that may
extend for several kilometers across the land surface. Flows
of this sort have created thick sheets of basalt covering
hundreds of square kilometers. The results of some of these
inundations of lava can be seen in western North America,
as in the great lava plain of the Snake River in Idaho. In
modern times, fissure eruptions, generally on a smaller scale,
have been observed in Iceland and Hawaii.

Theories of Volcanism:-
Geologists once thought that the chief cause of
volcanic action was the introduction of water into the
highly heated interior of the earth. In recent years, however,
as the mechanics of interaction of the earth’s crustal plates
have become better understood, geologists have succeeded in
incorporating volcanism into the theory of plate tectonics.
Wherever they occur, active volcanoes ultimately derive
their energy from processes associated with movements of
crustal plates. They tend, moreover, to be spatially
associated with major plate boundaries.
Volcanoes form at two kinds of plate boundaries:
convergent and divergent. At the former, where one plate
plunges (is subducted) beneath the other, material on the
upper surface of the subducted plate is dragged downward
on an oblique path into the earth’s crust until it reaches a
depth where it becomes molten. It then rises along vertical
fissures and is ejected at the surface through a volcanic
vent. At divergent plate boundaries, such as the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge, where oceanic crust is being stretched and
rifted apart, a linear zone of weakness (spreading center)
forms; this serves as an outlet for eruption of magma (deep-
lying molten rock material) brought upward by giant
convection currents in the mantle.
Volcanologists entertain several theories to account for
the action of volcanic gases in producing an eruption. The
simplest theory is that the action is similar to that of the gas
in a carbonated beverage in producing a fountain of soda
water, as when a soda bottle is shaken. The birth of a
volcano and the building of its cone and crater were
observed firsthand in 1943, when the volcano of Paricutín
erupted in the middle of a central Mexican cornfield,
providing geologists with an opportunity to observe the
sequence of ejected material. The district had previously
been shaken by earthquakes over a two-week period; then,
on February 20, a vent was observed to open and emit
steam and volcanic dust, then hot fragments, and later
molten rock. The 8-month eruption built up a cone about
450 m (about 1500 ft) high. The accompanying lava flows
buried the village of Paricutín and nearby settlements.