Volcanoes inspire awe, fear, and fascination whenever we hear of a new

particularly intense eruption in the world. There are few natural events that are as potentially

spectacular to watch as that of glowing, molten lava or immense clouds of pyroclastic ash,

billowing out of mountainous features located throughout various subduction zones or volcanic

islands like Hawaii. Though there is more to these volcanic features of our planet than meets the

eye.

         The conical shape of a volcano is iconic and memorable, with a few general basic

components.  Our planet is a cracked spheroid and many of these cracks, also known as fissures,

sit on top of gigantic magma chambers.  This magma occasionally finds its way into these

fissures and rises in cylindrical fashion through a conduit and then breaches the surface through a

vent to become lava.  Over time this erupted material tends to form a conical shape (Volcanic

Cone) or a few other types depending on composition of the magma involved.  Secondary vents

may also form along the flanks of the volcano to vent gases.  

There is a question of what makes a volcano explosive or effusive in terms of its eruption

tendencies.  It is also important to note that volcanic activity includes destructive events with

great explosive force, but they also include the re-creation of the seafloor along mid-oceanic

ridges, which continuously erupt into new layers at the bottom of the ocean accounting for 70%

of earth’s true surface.  There is an erroneous myth that the famed Ring of Fire is the most active

set of volcanic features when it is in fact, the mid-oceanic ridge zones.  The key to the behavior

from whether volcanoes erupt violently or spill out like a paint can, is primarily dependent on

composition of magma.  Magma’s viscosity, or its internal resistance to flow, is a primary

factor.  Temperature determines viscosity in that when temperature rises, a liquid flows more
readily, and as it cools down viscosity increases and flows more slowly.  The silica content also

plays a role since at the chemical level, chains of silica will link themselves together tightly to

prevent flow.  Something that can potentially interrupt this silica chain is the presence of gas and

water vapor, which is a third factor in viscosity level and ultimately, eruptive tendency.  The

amounts of gases and water vapor in magma will vary, but when there is a substantial amount,

and magma rises with it against the confined rock, bubbles will coalesce as the surface tension

becomes unstable allowing more gas to rise and seek to escape.  This is a key process behind

eruptions, and depending on low or high viscosity magma, you will get a spectrum of eruption

behaviors, from effusive fountains of viscous basaltic lava flows, to massive eruption columns of

pulverized magma that turns into pyroclastic material of ash, dust, and other rocky debris. (IN

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