WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PARTS

OF A VOLCANO?
Without a doubt, volcanoes are one of the most powerful forces of nature a person can
bear witness to. Put simply, they are what results when a massive rupture takes place in
the Earth’s crust (or any planetary-mass object), spewing hot lava, volcanic ash, and
toxic fumes onto the surface and air. Originating from deep within the Earth’s crust,
volcanoes leave a lasting mark on the landscape.

But what are the specific parts of a volcano? Aside from the “volcanic cone” (i.e. the
cone-shaped mountain), a volcano has many different parts and layers, most of which
are located within the mountainous region or deep within the Earth. As such, any true
understanding of their makeup requires that we do a little digging (so to speak!)

While volcanoes come in a number of shapes and sizes, certain common elements can
be discerned. The following gives you a general breakdown of a volcanoes specific
parts, and what goes into making them such a titanic and awesome natural force.

Magma Chamber:
A magma chamber is a large underground pool of molten rock sitting underneath the
Earth’s crust. The molten rock in such a chamber is under extreme pressure, which in
time can lead to the surrounding rock fracturing, creating outlets for the magma. This,
combined with the fact that the magma is less dense than the surrounding mantle,
allows it to seep up to the surface through the mantle’s cracks.
 Lava cooling after an eruption from Kilauea, a shield volcano near Kalapana, Hawaii
Credit: kalapanaculturaltours.com
When it reaches the surface, it results in a volcanic eruption. Hence why many
volcanoes are located above a magma chamber. Most known magma chambers are
located close to the Earth’s surface, usually between 1 km and 10 km deep. In
geological terms, this makes them part of the Earth’s crust – which ranges from 5–
70 km (~3–44 miles) deep.

Lava:
Lava is the silicate rock that is hot enough to be in liquid form, and which is expelled
from a volcano during an eruption. The source of the heat that melts the rock is known
as geothermal energy – i.e. heat generated within the Earth that is leftover from its
formation and the decay of radioactive elements. When lava first erupted from a
volcanic vent (see below), it comes out with a temperature of anywhere between 700 to
1,200 °C (1,292 to 2,192 °F). As it makes contact with air and flows downhill, it
eventually cools and hardens.

Main Vent:
A volcano’s main vent is the weak point in the Earth’s crust where hot magma has been
able to rise from the magma chamber and reach the surface. The familiar cone-shape of
many volcanoes are an indication of this, the point at which ash, rock and lava ejected
during an eruption fall back to Earth around the vent to form a protrusion.

Throat:
The uppermost section of the main vent is known as the volcano’s throat. As the
entrance to the volcano, it is from here that lava and volcanic ash are ejected.

Thurston lava tube is located on Kilauea in Hawaii. Credit: P. Mouginis-Mark, LPI

Crater:
In addition to cone structures, volcanic activity can also lead to circular depressions
(aka. craters) forming in the Earth. A volcanic crater is typically a basin, circular in form,
which can be large in radius and sometimes great in depth. In these cases, the lava
vent is located at the bottom of the crater. They are formed during certain types of
climactic eruptions, where the volcano’s magma chamber empties enough for the area
above it to collapse, forming what is known as a caldera.
Pyroclastic Flow:
Otherwise known as a pyroclastic density current, a pyroclastic flow refers to a fast-
moving current of hot gas and rock that is moving away from a volcano. Such flows can
reach speeds of up to 700 km/h (450 mph), with the gas reaching temperatures of about
1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Pyroclastic flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill from
their eruption site.

Their speeds depend upon the density of the current, the volcanic output rate, and the
gradient of the slope. Given their speed, temperature, and the way they flow downhill,
they are one of the greatest dangers associated with volcanic eruptions and are one of
the primary causes of damage to structures and the local environment around an
eruption site.

Ash Cloud:
Volcanic ash consists of small pieces of pulverized rock, minerals and volcanic glass
created during a volcanic eruption. These fragments are generally very small,
measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. This sort of ash forms as a result
of volcanic explosions, where dissolved gases in magma expand to the point where the
magma shatters and is propelled into the atmosphere. The bits of magma then cool,
solidifying into fragments of volcanic rock and glass.
 View of volcanic ash spewing from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Credit:
©Snaevarr Gudmundsson.
Because of their size and the explosive force with which they are generated, volcanic
ash is picked up by winds and dispersed up to several kilometers away from the
eruption site. Due to this dispersal, ash an also have a damaging effect on the local
environment, which includes negatively affecting human and animal health, disrupting
aviation, disrupting infrastructure, and damaging agriculture and water systems. Ash is
also produced when magma comes into contact with water, which causes the water to
explosively evaporate into steam and for the magma to shatter.

Volcanic Bombs:
In addition to ash, volcanic eruptions have also been known to send larger projectiles
flying through the air. Known as volcanic bombs, these ejecta are defined as those that
measure more than 64mm (2.5 inches) in diameter, and which are formed when a
volcano ejects viscous fragments of lava during an eruption. These cool before they hit
the ground, are thrown many kilometers from the eruption site, and often acquire
aerodynamic shapes (i.e. streamlined in form).

While the term applies to any ejecta larger than a few centimeters, volcanic bombs can
sometimes be very large. There have been recorded instances where objects
measuring several meters were retrieved hundreds of meters from an eruptions. Small
or large, volcanic bombs are a significant volcanic hazard and can often cause serious
damage and multiple fatalities, depending on where they land. Luckily, such explosions
are rare.

Secondary Vent:
On large volcanoes, magma can reach the surface through several different vents.
Where they reach the surface of the volcano, they form what is referred to as a
secondary vent. Where they are interrupted by accumulated ash and solidified lava,
they become what is known as a Dike. And where these intrude between cracks, pool
and then crystallize, they form what is called a Sill.
Cross-section of a stratovolcano: 1. Magma chamber 2. Bedrock 3. Vent 4. Base 5. Sill
6. Dike 7. Layers of ash 8. Flank 9. Layers of lava 10. Throat 11. Parasitic cone 12.
Lava flow 13. Vent 14. Crater 15. Ash cloud. Credit: MesserWoland

Secondary Cone:
Also known as a Parasitic Cone, secondary cones build up around secondary vents that
reach the surface on larger volcanoes. As they deposit lava and ash on the exterior,
they form a smaller cone, one that resembles a horn on the main cone.

Yes indeed, volcanoes are as powerful as they are dangerous. And yet, without these
geological phenomena occasionally breaking through the surface and reigning down
fire, smoke, and clouds of ash, the world as we know it would be a very different place.
More than likely, it would be a geologically dead one, with no change or evolution in its
crust. I think we can all agree that while such a world would be much safer, it would also
be painfully boring!

We have written many interesting articles about volcanoes here at Universe Today.
Here’s is one about the different types of volcanoes, one about composite volcanoes,
and here’s one on the famous volcanic belt, the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

Astronomy Cast also has a lovely episodes about volcanoes and geology, titled Episode
307: Pacific Ring of Fire and Episode 51: Earth

Want more resources on the Earth? Here’s a link to NASA’s Human Spaceflight page,
and here’s NASA’s Visible Earth.

10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT

VOLCANOES
Want some volcano facts? Here are 10 interesting facts about volcanoes. Some of
these facts you’ll know, and others may surprise you. Whatever the case, volcanoes are
amazing features of nature that demand our respect.

1. There are Three Major Kinds of Volcanoes:

Although volcanoes are all made from hot magma reaching the surface of the Earth and
erupting, there are different kinds. Shield volcanoes have lava flows with low viscosity
that flow dozens of kilometers; this makes them very wide with smoothly sloping flanks.

Stratovolcanoes are made up of different kinds of lava, and eruptions of ash and rock
and grow to enormous heights. Cinder cone volcanoes are usually smaller, and come
from short-lived eruptions that only make a cone about 400 meters high.

2. Volcanoes Erupt Because of Escaping

Magma:
About 30 km beneath your feet is the Earth’s mantle. It’s a region of superhot rock that
extends down to the Earth’s core. This region is so hot that molten rock can squeeze
out and form giant bubbles of liquid rock called magma chambers. This magma is lighter
than the surrounding rock, so it rises up, finding cracks and weakness in the Earth’s
crust.

Lava fountain in Hawaii. Image Credit: Jim D. Griggs/HVO/USGS

When it finally reaches the surface, it erupts out of the ground as lava, ash, volcanic
gasses and rock. It’s called magma when it’s under the ground, and lava when it erupts
onto the surface.

3. Volcanoes can be Active, Dormant or

Extinct:
An active volcano is one that has had an eruption in historical times (in the last few
thousand years). A dormant volcano is one that has erupted in historical times and has
the potential to erupt again, it just hasn’t erupted recently. An extinct volcano is one that
scientists think probably won’t erupt again. Here’s more information on the active
volcanoes in the world.
4. Volcanoes can Grow Quickly:
Although some volcanoes can take thousands of years to form, others can grow
overnight. For example, the cinder cone volcano Paricutin appeared in a Mexican
cornfield on February 20, 1943. Within a week it was 5 stories tall, and by the end of a
year it had grown to more than 336 meters tall. It ended its grown in 1952, at a height of
424 meters. By geology standards, that’s pretty quick.

Detailed view from space of the ash plume caused by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in
2010. Credit: NASA

5. There are 20 Volcanoes Erupting Right

Now:
Somewhere, around the world, there are likely about 20 active volcanoes erupting as
you’re reading this. Some are experiencing new activity, others are ongoing. Between
50-70 volcanoes erupted last year, and 160 were active in the last decade. Geologists
estimate that 1,300 erupted in the last 10,000 years.
Three quarters of all eruptions happen underneath the ocean, and most are actively
erupting and no geologist knows about it at all. One of the reasons is that volcanoes
occur at the mid ocean ridges, where the ocean’s plates are spreading apart. If you add
the underwater volcanoes, you get an estimate that there are a total of about 6,000
volcanoes that have erupted in the last 10,000 years.

6. Volcanoes are Dangerous:

But then you knew that. Some of the most deadly volcanoes include Krakatoa, which
erupted in 1883, releasing a tsunami that killed 36,000 people. When Vesuvius
exploded in AD 79, it buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing 16,000
people.

Image of Mt. Vesuvius, captured in 2000 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal

Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite. Credit:
NASA/EO
Mount Pelee, on the island of Martinique destroyed a town with 30,000 people in 1902.
The most dangerous aspect of volcanoes are the deadly pyroclastic flows that blast
down the side of a volcano during an eruption. These contain ash, rock and water
moving hundreds of kilometers an hour, and hotter than 1,000 degrees C.

7. Supervolcanoes are Really Dangerous:

Geologists measure volcano eruptions using the Volcano Explosivity Index, which
measures the amount of material released. A “small” eruption like Mount St. Helens was
a 5 out of 8, releasing a cubic kilometer of material. The largest explosion on record was
Toba, thought to have erupted 73,000 years ago.

It released more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of material, and created a caldera 100 km
long and 30 kilometers wide. The explosion plunged the world into a world wide ice age.
Toba was considered an 8 on the VEI.

8. The Tallest Volcano in the Solar System

isn’t on Earth:
That’s right, the tallest volcano in the Solar System isn’t on Earth at all, but on Mars.
Olympus Mons, on Mars, is a giant shield volcano that rises to an elevation of 27 km,
and it measures 550 km across. Scientists think that Olympus Mons was able to get so
large because there aren’t any plate tectonics on Mars. A single hotspot was able to
bubble away for billions of years, building the volcano up bigger and bigger.
 Mauna Kea observed from space. Credit: NASA/EO

9. The Tallest and Biggest Volcanoes on Earth

are side by side:
The tallest volcano on Earth is Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, with an elevation of 4,207 meters.
It’s only a little bigger than the largest volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa with an elevation of
only 4,169 meters. Both are shield volcanoes that rise up from the bottom of the ocean.
If you could measure Mauna Kea from the base of the ocean to its peak, you’d get a
true height of 10,203 meters (and that’s bigger than Mount Everest).

10. The Most Distant Point from the Center of

the Earth is a Volcano:
You might think that the peak of Mount Everest is the most distant point from the center
of the Earth, but that’s not true. Instead, it’s the volcano Chimborazo in Ecuador. That’s
because the Earth is spinning in space and is flattened out. Points at the equator are
further from the center of the Earth than the poles. And Chimborazo is very close to the
Earth’s equator.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST VOLCANO ON
EARTH?

The largest volcano on Earth is Mauna Loa, which is one of the 5 volcanoes that make
up the Big Island of Hawaii. When we talk about biggest volcano here, we’re talking
about the volcano that has the biggest volume, and that’s Mauna Loa. It’s made up of
an estimated 75,000 cubic kilometers of material.

Mauna Loa is an active shield volcano, and scientists think that it has been erupting for
about 700,000 years; it emerged through the surface of the ocean about 400,000 years
ago. The active magma for Mauna Loa comes from the Hawaiian hotspot. But the plate
carrying the massive volcano is slowly carrying it away from the hotspot, and it will go
extinct in the next 500,000 to 1 million years. It last erupted in 1984, and destroyed
homes and villages in 1926 and 1950.

The volcano measures 4,169 meters above sea level, but that’s not its true height.
Measured from the sea floor, Mauna Loa is really taller than 9,000 meters – that’s taller
than Mount Everest. But Mauna Loa isn’t the tallest volcano, that’s actually its neighbor,
Mauna Kea, which is about 40 meters taller.

The biggest volcano in the Solar System isn’t on Earth, but on Mars. Olympus Mons, on
Mars, measures 27 km high, and has about 100 times the volume of Mauna Loa.
We have written many articles about the Earth for Universe Today. Here’s an article
about the biggest volcano in the Solar System, and here are some great images of
a lightning storm around a volcano.

Want more resources on the Earth? Here’s a link to NASA’s Human Spaceflight page,
and here’s NASA’s Visible Earth.

We have also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about Earth, as part of our tour
through the Solar System – Episode 51: Earth.

WHAT IS THE TALLEST VOLCANO ON

EARTH?

The tallest volcano on Earth is Mauna Kea, one of the 5 volcanos that make up the Big
Island of Hawaii. The summit of Mauna Kea is 4,205 meters above sea level, but its true
height is much larger. When measured from the sea floor, Mauna kea is more than
9,000 meters tall, making it the tallest mountain on Earth.

Mauna Kea is part of the network of volcanos above the Hawaiian hotspot. The tectonic
plate that has the Hawaiian islands is slowly moving above the hotspot, and it recently
carried Mauna Kea away from the hotspot. Scientists believe that Mauna Kea is now
dormant; it last erupted about 4,500 years ago. Although, researchers do think it’s going
to erupt again, the time between eruptions is measured in hundreds of years. The most
active volcano on the island, Kilauea, erupts every few years.

Even though the Hawaiian islands are warm and tropical, Mauna Kea is so tall that it
has regular snowfalls in the winter months. Geologists have even found deposits
created by glaciers during recent ice ages. There were probably three glacial episodes
in the last 200,000 years. People regularly ski on the slopes of Mauna Kea.

Although Mauna Kea is the tallest volcano, it’s only about 40 meters taller than the
nearby Mauna Loa, which is the biggest volcano on Earth. Mauna Loa has more than
75,000 cubic kilometers of material.

And the biggest volcano in the Solar System isn’t on Earth, but on Mars. The enormous
Olympus Mons is 27 km tall, and contains 100 times more material than Mauna Loa.

We have written many articles about the Earth for Universe Today. Here’s an article
about the biggest volcano on Earth, and here’s an article about the biggest volcano in
the Solar System.

Want more resources on the Earth? Here’s a link to NASA’s Human Spaceflight page,
and here’s NASA’s Visible Earth.

We have also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about Earth, as part of our tour
through the Solar System

MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES

Most volcanoes are dormant. They erupted millions of years ago, but then the Earth’s
plate tectonics closed the vent or caused it to drift away. But some volcanoes are still
active and erupt on a regular basis. Here are a list of the most active volcanoes in the
world.

The most active volcano on Earth is Kilauea volcano on Hawaii. It’s the most recent of a
series of volcanoes that created the Hawaiian archipelago of islands. They formed as a
string of islands because the Pacific plate is slowly moving over the Hawaii hotspot.
That’s why the islands of Kauai and Oahu are no longer active, but Kilauea is. This
volcano only rises 1,247 meters above sea level, but it’s still growing. 90% of the
surface of Kilauea is less than 1,100 years old, and there were 45 eruptions of the
volcano in the 20th century alone. Even in 2008, there were explosive eruptions from
Kilauea.

The second most active volcano in the world is Mount Etna, a composite volcano on the
east coast of Sicily. It’s the largest active volcano in Europe, with an altitude of 3,329
meters. It’s in an almost constant state of eruption, but despite this, its flanks support
extensive vineyards and orchards. Over the last few thousand years, it has experienced
many eruptions. Ash from its eruptions have been found as far away as Rome, 800 km
away. There are more than 300 volcanic vents across Mount Etna, ranging in size from
small holes to massive craters, hundreds of meters across.

The third most active volcano is Piton de la Fournaise, which is French for the “Peak of
the Furnace”. This is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Renunion island in the
Indian Ocean. It has erupted in 2006, 2007 and in 2008 – with more than 150 eruptions
since the 17th century. Piton de la Fournaise is referred locally as “le Volcan”, and
stands at a height of 2,631 meters tall. It has many craters and cinder cones inside the
volcano’s caldera and around its outer flanks.

We have written many articles about volcanoes for Universe Today. Here’s an article
about how the dinosaurs might have been killed by both volcanoes and asteroids, and
how they helped slow the ocean warming trend.

Want more resources on the Earth? Here’s a link to NASA’s Human Spaceflight page,
and here’s NASA’s Visible Earth.

We have also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about Earth, as part of our tour
through the Solar System – Episode 51: Earth.

LARGEST ERUPTION EVER

There have been some big eruptions in recent history, like Mount Pinatubo, Mount St.
Helens, and even Krakatoa. But those were tiny compared to some of the largest
eruptions that have ever happened in the Earth’s history. So what was the largest
eruption ever?

First, let’s get a sense of scale. When Krakatoa exploded in 1883, it released more than
21 cubic kilometers of rock, ash and pumice measuring 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity
Index. At least 36,000 people died in the eruption and the tsunamis that followed.

Well, that was nothing.

Lake Toba in Indonesia measures 100 km long and 30 km wide and goes down to a
depth of 505 meters. But it’s actually the collapsed caldera of a supernova that
detonated about 74,000 years ago. Geologists believe that it erupted with an intensity of
8 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, releasing 2,800 cubic kilometers of ash, rock and
pumice. It deposited a layer of ash 15 centimeters thick over the entire Indian
subcontinent.
Want bigger? No problem. The La Garita Caldera eruption in Colorado erupted about
28 million years ago, blasting out 5,000 cubic kilometers of ash.

We have written many articles about volcanoes for Universe Today. Here’s an article
about supervolcanoes, and here’s an article about the Krakatoa eruption.

Want more resources on the Earth? Here’s a link to NASA’s Human Spaceflight page,
and here’s NASA’s Visible Earth.

We have also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about Earth, as part of our tour
through the Solar System – Episode 51: Earth.