Volcanoes are incredibly powerful things. They look pretty good in the back of photographs but also have the potential to destroy entire cities. Here’s what you need to know about volcanoes. I can never work out why “volcanoes” doesn’t look like it’s being spelt right.
I name thee volcano
Have you ever wondered where volcanos get their name? No? Well, I’ll tell you anyway.
The name volcano comes from the Roman word “Vulcan”. Vulcan was the God of fire. The Romans had lots of Gods to pick from- but I suppose the God of fire was a good one to pick. (Better than Neptune- God of the sea at least).
how are volcanoes formed?
Volcanoes are holes in the Earth’s crust (learn more here). Over time pressure builds until eventually lava and ash come out of the gap. The ash and lava solidify into rock and eventually, you get the coned-shaped volcano shape.
The Earth’s crust is made up of huge rocky pieces called “plates” and most volcanoes form on the lines between the different plates.
75% of the world’s volcanoes are in the “ring of fire” which is a location in the Pacific Ocean.
parts of the volcano
- Large magma chamber
- Bedrock (Not the same as bedrock in Minecraft)
- Conduit (pipe)
- Base
- Sill
- Dike
- Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
- Flank
- Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
- Throat
- Parasitic cone
- Lava flow
- vent
- Crater
- Ash cloud
the different types of volcanoES
What surprises me is that there are actually different types of volcanos- who would have thought!?
I think my favourite might be the aptly named Super volcano. They are the largest and most explosive volcanos on Earth. The boring scientists don’t actually call them this- but it’s a popular name for them.
One of the biggest super volcanos is called the Yellowstone Caldera in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America.
Submarine volcanoes are surprisingly volcanoes on the ocean floor. (You get it? Submarines go underwater- the volcano is underwater). There could be over a million baby submarine volcanoes on the ocean floor.
Magma vs. Lava
Something I’ve always wondered (and you might have also wondered) is what the difference is between magma and lava. It turns out there’s not a big difference (if any) at all.
It is called magma when it is still underground then it becomes lava when it breaks through the Earth’s surface.
extinct volcanoes
Not all volcanoes are still active. Some are destined to probably never erupt again because they have run out of a supply of magma. We call these extinct volcanoes.
The problem comes that sometimes what we think is an extinct volcano could just be a dormant volcano. A dormant volcano is one which might not have erupted for thousands of years- but is just waiting to erupt again.
Volcanoes aren’t just on Earth
That’s right, you read this heading correctly. Volcanoes aren’t just on Earth. A lot of them are inactive but there are active ones on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune are active.
Some of the largest inactive volcanoes are on the red planet Mars and most of Venus’s surface looks like it was influenced heavily by volcanic eruptions in the distant past.
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What’s the coolest thing you know about volcanos- let me know in the comments below.