Cotopaxi, Ecuador

st 1

Day Presentation

By: Liberty Sementelli

I dont really understand how volcanoes erupt. How do all the gas get in there.

Volcanic gases are dissolved in molten rock. But as magma rises toward the surface where the pressure is lower, gases held in the melt begin to form tiny bubbles. The increasing volume taken up by gas bubbles makes the magma less dense than the surrounding rock, which may allow the magma to continue its upward journey.
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/

Volcanoes vary a great deal in their destructive power. Some volcanoes explode violently, destroying everything in a mile radius within minutes, while other volcanoes seep out lava slowly. The severity of the eruption depends mostly on the composition of the magma.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/naturaldisasters/volcano3.htm