VOLCANO HAZARDS

WHAT IS VOLCANOLOGY?

 Study of volcanoes

ROLES OF VOLCANOLOGY:

1. To gain an understanding of how volcanoes work

2. To further scientific knowledge
3. To provide eruption hazard assessment, monitoring and crisis management

Volcanologist – a geologist who focuses on the study of volcanic formation and activities

WHAT IS A VOLCANO?

 An opening or vent on earth’s surface where molten rocks, gases and ashes are ejected
 A result of subduction (a process where two tectonic plates converge one another, with one
descending below the edge of the other)

SOME PARTS OF VOLCANO

 Crater – opening of a volcano

 Pipe (Conduit) – path through which the ejected materials pass
 Magma – molten rocks beneath earth’s surface
 Lava – molten rocks that erupts from a volcano that solidifies as it cools

BENEFITS OF VOLCANOES

 Make the soils fertile for vegetation

 Provide minerals useful for industrialization
 Create space for nurturing communities’ indigenous cultures

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

- Have resulted in the formation of new mountains and landscapes

- Create hazardous conditions
- Affect millions of people
- Disrupting the flourishing socioeconomic conditions

DIFFERENT TYPES OF VOLCANOES

1. Cinder Cones
- Simplest type
- Formed from lava particles emitted in a vent
- Have one crater and rarely rise more than a thousand feet
2. Shield Cones.
- Created because of continuous lava flows coming from the vents
- Largest volcano in the world
 - Mauna in Hawaii
3. Composite Volcanoes “stratovolcanoes”
- Often steep-sided and the cones are closely symmetrical
- Covered with layers of lava flows and ash that rise up to 2500 meters
- Conduit system of magma chamber is a special feature of this type
- Mount Fuji in Japan ; Mount Mayon in the Philippines.

CLASSIFICATION OF VOLCANOES

1. Active Volcano
- Has at least one eruption within the last 10 000 years.
- Active volcano is classified into two categories:
a. Erupting Volcano
 Explosive Eruption
 happens because of formation of gases under viscous flow of magma.
 Often violent and rapid.
 Ejects volcanic materials, lava flows, and ash onto a large area.
 Quiet Eruption
 when it emits low viscous lava where gases can easily escape.
b. Dormant Volcano
 Has not erupted within the last 10 000 years.
 Mauna Kea in Big Islands, Hawaii had its last eruption 3500-4000 years
ago.
 Mount St. Helens was considered dormant before it erupted in 1980.
2. Extinct Volcano
- Has not had an eruption within historic times.
- Not expected to erupt again in a comparable time scale of the future.
- Kohala in Big Islands, Hawaii last erupted 60 000 years ago.
- There are volcanoes considered extinct but became suddenly active like Mt. Pinatubo, which
erupted in 1991.

WHERE ARE VOLCANOES LOCATED?

Pacific Ring of Fire

- Long horseshoe-shaped belt

- Home pf epicenters, volcanoes, and subduction of oceanic plates.
- Indonesian archipelago, Philippines, Japan, western coast of North America and Andres
Mountains.
- Majority of the world’s earthquakes occur within the Pacific Ring of Fire.
- Approximately 75 percent of world’s volcanoes occur within the Pacific Ring of Fire.
ACTIVE VOLCANOES IN PHILIPPINES

- More than 1500 volcanoes in the world are considered active.

-Around 50 to 60 volcanoes erupt yearly.

International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI)

considered these volcanoes extremely dangerous:

a. Mount Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

 “Island mountain glacier”
 Last erupted in 2010 and caused air traffic across western and northern
Europe.
b. Mount Vesuvius, Italy
 Most historical and destructive eruption on 79 AD.
 Buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
 One of the most hazardous volcanoes.
 Last erupted in 1944.
c. Mount Sakurajima, Japan
 One of its significant eruptions occurred in 1914.
 The island of Mount Sakurajima connected to another island, Osumi
Peninsula because of this disaster.
d. Mount Merapi, Indonesia
 Most active volcano in Indonesia.
 “Fire Mountain”
 Last erupted in 1548.
e. Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo
 Main crater is approximately two kilometers wide.
 Has a lava lake.
 Composed 40% of Africa’s historical volcanic eruptions.
f. Mount Ulawun, Papua New Guinea
 Highest mountain in the Bismarck Archipelago in the island of New
Britain.
 One of the most active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea.
 22 documented eruptions since 18th century.
g. Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaii
 Largest volcano on Earth in terms of volume and area covered.
h. Mount Santa Maria, Guatemala
 1902 eruption was one of the four largest eruption of 20th century and one
of the biggest eruptions of the past 200 years.
ACTIVE VOLCANOES IN THE PHILIPPINES

- Approximately 200 volcanoes

- 22 are active
- Mayon and Taal are the most active volcanoes in the country.
- Some other active volcanoes in the Philippines:
a. Mount Mayon, Albay
 Nearly perfect cone-shpaed volcano.
 Erupted at least 50 time from 1616 up to present.
 1766 was its most devastating eruption that buried the entire town of
Cagsawa.
b. Taal Volcano, Batangas
 Erupted 33 times since 1672.
 Most active smallest volcano in the world.
c. Mount Kanlaon, Negros Occidental
 Erupted 25 times from 1886 up to present.
 Last major eruption happened in 1996.
d. Mount Bulusan, Sorsogon
 Elevation of 1565 meters.
 Erupted 15 times from 1886 up to 2007.
e. Hibok-Hibok, Camiguin
 Erupted 7 times since its first eruption in 1827.
 Last erupted in 1952.
f. Mount Banahaw, Quezon
 One of the most active volcanoes in Philippines.
 Elevation of 2158 meters.
 Has erupted 4 times since 1730 up to 1909.
 The inhabitants of Mt. Banahaw treat the place as “sacred”.
g. Didicas Volcano, Cagayan
 One of the most smallest active volcanoes in the Philippines.
 Elevation of 244 meters.
 Has erupted 7 times from 1773 up to 1990.
h. Mount Makaturing, Lanao del Sur
 One of the highest and active volcano in the Philippines.
 Elevation of 1940 meters.
 Has erupted 10 times since 1882.

SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING VOLCANIC ERUPTION

 Changes in geochemical and geophysical characteristic of the volcano.

 Deformation of the ground.
 Continuous increase in the temperature of hot springs, wells, and lakes on craters
near the volcano.