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Cordillera de Apaneca Overview

A volcano is a rupture in a planetary crust that allows magma, lava, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes form at plate boundaries where tectonic plates are diverging or converging, or in areas of plate stretching. Some volcanoes form away from plate boundaries due to mantle plumes rising from deep within the Earth. Large volcanic eruptions can cool the climate by releasing ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere.

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24 views1 page

Cordillera de Apaneca Overview

A volcano is a rupture in a planetary crust that allows magma, lava, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes form at plate boundaries where tectonic plates are diverging or converging, or in areas of plate stretching. Some volcanoes form away from plate boundaries due to mantle plumes rising from deep within the Earth. Large volcanic eruptions can cool the climate by releasing ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere.

Uploaded by

Jhuliane Ralph
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Volcano

A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows


hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
Earth's volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, rigid tectonic plates that float on a
hotter, softer layer in its mantle.[1] Therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic
plates are diverging or converging, and most are found underwater. For example, a mid-oceanic
ridge, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, has volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates whereas
the Pacific Ring of Fire has volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates. Volcanoes can also
form where there is stretching and thinning of the crust's plates, e.g., in the East African Rift and
the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and Rio Grande Rift in North America. This type of
volcanism falls under the umbrella of "plate hypothesis" volcanism.[2] Volcanism away from plate
boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called "hotspots", for example
Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the core–mantle boundary,
3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past
one another.

Sabancaya volcano erupting, Peru in 2017


Cordillera de Apaneca volcanic range in El Salvador. The country is home to 170 volcanoes, 23 which are
active, including two calderas, one being a supervolcano. El Salvador has earned the epithets endearment La
Tierra de Soberbios Volcanes, (The Land of Magnificent Volcanoes).

Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska photographed from the International Space Station, May


2006

Large eruptions can affect ambient temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscure the sun
and cool the Earth's troposphere; historically, large volcanic eruptions have been followed
by volcanic winters which have caused catastrophic famines.

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