VOLCANOES
● Volcanoes are landforms or mountains where molten rocks appear from the surface of the planet.
● The volcano mountain opens under the pool of molten rocks inside the earth’s surface.
● A volcano is referred to as a vent or fissure in the crust of the earth from where lava, ash, rocks, and
gasses come out.
● Active volcanoes are those categories of a volcano that appear in the recent past.
● Mantle volcanoes include a weaker zone which is referred to as the asthenosphere.
TYPES OF VOLCANOES
Based on the shape
1. Cinder Cones
● Cinder cones are round or oval cones made up of tiny lava pieces blown up from a single vent.
● Cinder cones are formed by the accumulation of largely small fragments of scoria and pyroclastics
around the vent.
● The majority of cinder cones only erupt once.
● Cinder cones can arise as side vents on bigger volcanoes or as isolated cinder cones.
2. Composite Volcano
● Composite volcanoes are steep-sided volcanoes made up of multiple layers of volcanic rocks, most of
which are made up of high-viscosity lava, ash, and rock debris.
● These volcanoes are towering conical mountains made up of lava flows and other ejecta layered in
alternate layers, hence the name strata.
● Cinder, ash, and lava make up composite volcanoes.
● Cinders and ash build up on top of one another, lava flows over the ash, cools and hardens, and the
cycle continues.
3. Composite Volcano
● Shield volcanoes have long, gradual slopes formed by basaltic lava flows and are fashioned like a bowl
or shield in the middle.
● These are generated by the eruption of low-viscosity lava that can travel a long way from the vent.
● They don't usually blow out in a big way.
● Shield volcanoes are more prevalent in marine environments than continental settings because
low-viscosity magma is often low in silica.
● Shield cones are found throughout the Hawaiian volcanic system, and they are also frequent in Iceland.
4. Lava Domes
● Lava domes arise when erupting lava becomes too thick to flow and stacks up near the volcanic vent,
forming a steep-sided mound.
● Slow outbursts of exceedingly viscous lava form them.
● They can sometimes be found within the crater of an earlier volcanic eruption.
● They can erupt violently and explosively, just like a composite volcano, although the lava rarely flows far
from the erupting vent.
Based on the Nature of the Eruption
1. Hawaiian Volcanoes
● Hawaiian Volcanoes are named after the Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island which is known for its
stunning fire fountains.
● Fluid basaltic lava is sprinkled in jets from a vent or series of vents on the summit or side of a volcano
during a Hawaiian volcano.
● Fire fountaining is a phenomenon in which the jets linger for hours or even days.
● The spatter formed by hot lava pouring from the fountain can either melt together to form lava flows or
build hills known as spatter cones.
● Lava flows can also emerge from vents at the same time as fountaining or after it has stopped.
● These flows can travel kilometers from their source before cooling and hardening because they are
extremely fluid.
● The 1969-1974 Mauna Ulu eruption on the volcano's flank and the 1959 eruption of the Kilauea Iki
Crater at Kilauea's summit are two excellent examples.
● Lava fountains erupted to heights of nearly a thousand feet in both eruptions.
2. Strombolian Eruption
● Strombolian eruptions are fluid lava bursts from the mouth of a magma-filled summit conduit.
● Strombolian eruptions are called after the Stromboli Volcano, which is located on the Italian island of
Stromboli and has many volcanic summit vents.
● The explosions normally happen every few minutes, in either regular or sporadic intervals.
● The bursting of huge gas bubbles, which rise upward in the magma-filled conduit until they reach the
open air, causes lava explosions, which can reach heights of hundreds of meters.
● This type of eruption can produce a range of eruptive products, including
○ spatter (hardened globs of glassy lava)
○ scoria (hardened bits of bubbling lava)
○ lava bombs (large chunks of lava)
○ ashes
● Minor lava flows (which form when hot spatter melts together and flows downslope)
● The debris left behind by this explosive eruption is called Tephra.
● Small lava lakes that can form in volcanoes' conduits are commonly associated with Strombolian
eruptions.
● They are the least violent of the explosive eruptions, yet bombs and lava flows can still be quite
dangerous if they reach populated areas.
● The lava lights brightly at night, making the explosions even more impressive.
3. Vulcanian Eruption
● A Vulcanian eruption is a viscous magma explosion that is short, intense, and relatively tiny.
● Vulcanian Eruption is named after the minor volcano on the Italian island of Volcano, which was
considered to represent the vent above the forge of the Roman smith deity Vulcan.
● This form of eruption occurs when a plug of lava in volcanic conduit fragments and explodes, or when a
lava dome ruptures (viscous lava that piles up over a vent).
● Vulcanian eruptions produce enormous explosions. The materials from the eruption travel at speeds of
up to 350 meters per second and rise many kilometers into the air.
● The materials include tephra, ash clouds, and pyroclastic density currents (clouds of hot ash, gas, and
rock that flow almost like fluids).
● Vulcanian eruptions can be monotonous and last for days, months, or even years, or they might be
precursors to more explosive eruptions.
4. Plinian Eruptions
● Plinian eruptions are the largest and most violent of all volcanic eruptions.
● They are frequently linked with particularly viscous magma and are caused by the fragmentation of
gassy magma.
● They release massive quantities of energy and produce eruption columns of gas and ash that can reach
50 kilometers in height and travel at hundreds of meters per second.
● Hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the volcano, ash from an eruption column can float or
be blown.
● The eruption columns resemble a mushroom (similar to a nuclear explosion) or an Italian pine tree;
● Plinian eruptions can be highly devastating, obliterating the entire summit of a mountain, as happened
in 1980 at Mount St. Helens.
● They can erupt miles away from the volcano, releasing ash, scoria, and lava bombs, as well as
pyroclastic density currents that raze forests, strip soil from bedrock, and demolish everything in their
path.
● These eruptions are frequently climactic, and a volcano with a magma chamber drained by a massive
Plinian eruption may go dormant.
5. Vesuvian Volcanoes
● Vesuvian Volcanoes have magma that is ejected from a start cone vent and are particularly violent and
explosive.
● After a long period of quiet or modest activity, the eruption begins.
● The vent has a tendency to be emptied to a great depth.
● The lava sprays explosively, and the gas cloud rises to a tremendous height before depositing the
tephra.
Based on the Frequency of the Eruption
1. Active Volcano
● Active volcanoes are volcanoes that are either erupting or on the verge of eruption.
● There are around 500 active volcanoes on Earth, excluding those submerged beneath the oceans.
● Every year, approximately 50 to 70 active volcanoes erupt, most of them being around the Pacific “ring
of fire”.
● Mount Etna (Italy), Hawaiian Islands (Pacific Ocean), Mauna Loa (Pacific Ocean), Mount Vesuvius (Italy),
and Barren Island (India) are some examples of Active Volcanoes around the world.
2. Dormant Volcano
● A dormant volcano is one that is not erupting at the present but has erupted in the past and is expected
to erupt again.
● Some volcanoes can last thousands of years without erupting, thus they are theoretically predicted to
erupt in the future, but they could take many lives.
● Another of the Big Island's five volcanoes, Mauna Kea, last erupted 3,500 years ago, but it is predicted
to erupt again, but no date has been set.
● People living in the neighborhood of dormant volcanoes are frequently complacent and unprepared
when an eruption occurs.
3. Extinct Volcano
● Extinct volcanoes are considered to be dormant and unlikely to erupt again.
● Example: Kohala, the Big Island of Hawaii's oldest volcano, hasn't erupted in 60,000 years and isn't
expected to erupt again.
● However, because many Hawaiian volcanoes are in the process of rejuvenation, this classification isn't
completely accurate.
● Aconcagua of the Andes is a typical example of an extinct volcano.
VOLCANIC LANDFORMS
● Volcanic landforms are natural wonders shaped by the fiery power of volcanoes. They are formed from
magma, the molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface, which erupts and cools to create diverse
landscapes.
● When magma comes out of the magma chambers, it proceeds to the cooling process. It either cools
within the crust or on the surface of the earth.
● The formation of rocks after the cooling of magma inside the earth’s surface is called plutonic rocks. The
rocks that cool on the earth’s surface and form rocks are known as Igneous rocks.
● Volcanic landforms are landforms that form due to volcanic eruptions and depend on the place where it
cools.
● They come in two main types: extrusive and intrusive.
1. INTRUSIVE VOLCANOES LANDFORMS
● The magma which cools inside the earth’s crust is known as intrusive landforms.
● Intrusive volcanism occurs when magma is forced into the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust. When
the magma cools and solidifies while still underground, it forms various features known as plutons,
resulting in an intrusive igneous rock.
● Over time, these plutons are exposed at the surface when the overlying rocks are eroded away.
● The cooling and solidification of magma can occur both inside the Earth and on its surface.
● In the process, the following types of magma-based landforms are created inside the Earth:
○ Batholiths: These are large-scale formations of solidified magma located at the base of a crust.
○ Laccoliths: These are smaller formations of magma that push the overlying layers of rocks to form
a dome-like structure.
○ Lapoliths: These are small-scale formations of cooled magma near the Earth’s surface that lie
horizontally to the existing rocks.
○ Phacoliths: A phacolith is a pluton of igneous rock that forms parallel to the bedding plane or
foliation of the surrounding folded country rock.
○ Sills/Sheets: These are small-scale formations of cooled magma near the Earth’s surface that lie
horizontally to the existing rocks.
○ Dikes: These are small-scale formations of cooled magma within the Earth’s crust that stand
vertically to the existing rocks.
2. EXTRUSIVE VOLCANOES LANDFORMS
● Landforms formed due to material thrown out of the surface. The materials include ash, dust, pyroclastic
debris, nitrogen and sulphur compounds, and a small amount of chlorine, hydrogen, and argon. The
various landforms form due to the outside solidification of lava.
● When the molten magma under immense pressure forces its way through the fissures of underground
rocks and reaches the Earth’s surface, it forms what is known as an "igneous extrusion".
● The examples of extrusive landforms (forming over the surface) include:
○ Caldera: A caldera is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a
magma chamber/reservoir in a volcanic eruption. When filled with water, it is referred to as a
'caldera lake'.
○ Composite cones: These are large volcanic mountains formed by solidified lava on the surface.
○ Geysers: A geyser is a vent in the Earth’s surface that periodically ejects a column of hot water
and steam.
○ Hot springs: Also known as geothermal springs, these are springs produced by the emergence of
geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth’s crust.
○ Volcanic Domes: It is a result of the extrusion of a highly viscous gas, poor andesitic, and rhyolitic
lava.
○ Flood Basalt: It is large volume outpourings of basaltic magma from fissure vents.
CAUSES OF VOLCANOES
● Volcanic eruptions occur mainly due to the movement and interactions of Earth's tectonic plates. When
plates converge, one plate subducts beneath another, creating intense heat and pressure. This leads to
the melting of rocks and the formation of magma.
● Magma generated within the Earth's mantle can accumulate in chambers beneath the surface. When
the pressure within these chambers exceeds the strength of the surrounding rocks, volcanic eruptions
can occur.
● As the Earth's mantle rises to shallower depths, the decrease in pressure causes rocks to melt and form
magma. This process often happens at mid-oceanic ridges and hotspots.
● The presence of volatile gasses, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, within the
magma can contribute to its mobility. This can increase the likelihood of explosive eruptions.
DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES
● The majority of volcanic activity and earthquakes are concentrated along converging plate margins and
mid-oceanic ridges.
● Approximately 70 percent of earthquakes take place within the Circum-Pacific belt.
● Around 20 percent of earthquakes occur in the Mediterranean-Himalayan belt, which includes areas
such as Asia Minor, the Himalayas, and portions of north-west China.
● Reports indicate that approximately 480 active volcanoes have been recorded since the 16th century.
● Among these, nearly 400 are situated in and around the Pacific Ocean, while 80 are located in the
mid-world belt that extends across the Mediterranean Sea, the Alpine-Himalayan belt, and within the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
● Some of the areas with the highest concentration of volcanic activity include the Aleutian-Kuril islands
arc, Melanesia, and the New Zealand-Tonga belt.
● It’s important to note that only 10 to 20 percent of all volcanic activity occurs above the sea level, and
terrestrial volcanic mountains are comparatively smaller in size when compared to their submarine
counterparts.
Conclusion
● The volcanic movements create widespread devastation on the planet's surface. However, it can be
concluded that these volcanoes are important to maintaining the Earth's crust's unique structure.
● It is obvious that Earth would have been barren without volcanoes on our planet. These subsurface
furnaces contributed to the formation of Earth's continents by venting molten rock onto the planet's
surface from their depths.
