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TENDAI

CHIDARURA R115561N SEKAI KASHAMBA R117320R

QUESTION
The

volcanic is highly sporadic in nature, classification of volcanoes into active, dormant and extinct categories is often difficult to apply in practice. With reference to examples elucidate.

Defination volcano
It

refers to an outlet to the earth surface through which magma, gases, and fragments erupt. Defined by Dolgoff (1998) as land form created when molten rock escapes from the earths interior through openings or vents on the earths surface and then cools and solidifies around the vents.

 The

magma that fuels the volcano eruption is generated by the melting of solid rock in the upper mantle or base of the crust. There are over 500 active volcanoes in the whole world

volcanism
The

set of processes that result in extrusion of molten rock. Begins with the creation of magma by the melting of pre existing rock and culminates with the ascent of this magma to earths surface through fractures, faults and other cracks in the lithosphere.

SPORADIC NATURE

Volcanic activity can be sporadic. This means it can occur at irregular intervals or only in a few places. Volcanic activity can not be predicted. most volcanoes are located along plate boundaries. About half of the active surface volcanoes on Earth occur along the shores of the Pacific Ocean and this region is called the Ring of Fire. Santiaguito volcano (Guatemala) in 1902 a catastrophic eruption was experienced and also, 1903, 1922, Dormant until 2002 when it started being active again.

ACTIVE VOLCANO
Refers

to volcano that is currently erupting or has erupted recently in geological terms (erupted within 10 000 years ago) (Smithsonian global volcanism program)

Active volcanoes examples

Mount Etna:. Mount Etna, rising above the Sicilian sea coast in Italy is basically a stratovolcano, also called a composite volcano. These are tall and conical, and have a number of layers of Tephra (airfall material produced by volcanic eruption, regardless of composition or fragment size), lava and volcanic ash. They are characterized by periodic and explosive eruptions. (sporadic) Etna is the second-largest active volcano in Europe, at a height of 3,329 meters The volcanic activity of Etna began about half a million years ago. In the 20th century, major eruptions happened in 1949, 1971, 1981, 1983 and 1991-1993, 2001,2002-2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The eruptions in 2001, 2002-2003, and 2004-2005 lasted for 3 weeks, 3

months, and 6 months, respectively, February 2013

ACTIVE VOLCANO

Mount Stromboli: Located on a small island off the north coast of Sicily. Rising to almost 2,000 meters from the floor of the ocean, it has been constantly erupting almost for the last 2,000 years. The eruptions of this volcano are the best at night, when chunks of lava are blasted out, forming bright red arcs in the sky. When a volcano blasts out blobs of hot lava, gas and rocks in arcs from its volcanic vent, it is called a strombolian eruption. The largest eruption was in 1930 involved a considerable death toll and the most recent eruption was in 2002.

Dormant volcano
A volcano

that has not erupted recently but is considered likely to do so in the future. Theres presents of relatively fresh ( less than 1000 years old) volcanic rock in a volcanos vicinity suggests that it is capable of a repeat perfomance. (Chernicoff, Fox and Ramesh, 1997).

DORMANT VOLCANO
A dormant volcano is one that is sleeping but could awaken in the future, such as Mount Rainier and Mount Fuji Sinabung in northern Sumatra, Vesuvius in Italy and Fijiama in Japan. eruptions can be unexpected or surprising because people had always assumed the volcanoes in question were dormant.

Extinct volcano
An

extinct volcano is dead it hasnt erupted in the past 10,000 years and is not expected to ever erupt again. Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii could be considered an extinct volcano.

EXTINCT VOLCANOS

Extinct is probably the most exacting term in describing a volcanos eruptive potential; its a term that is very cautiously used, given that there is almost always potential for a currently inactive volcano to begin erupting again. Extinct implies that there is no magmatic, seismic or degassing activity going on at the volcano, and that its never expected to have any in the future. Thats very difficult to prove, and requires field mapping to determine the volcanos eruptive history. If it can be shown that the volcano has not erupted for periods of time much longer than its past eruptive recurrence intervals, its probably safe to call it extinct. For example, if a volcanos eruptive history shows that it usually erupts every 10,000 years or so, and there hasnt been an eruption for a million years, it may be called extinct

DISCUSSION

A volcanologist, however, has very different ideas of what constitutes a dormant or active volcano but even volcanologists dont agree on the exact definitions. Some volcanologists consider a volcano active if it has erupted within the last 10,000 years; they would consider it dormant if it had erupted more than 10,000 years ago, but still has access to a magma source that could fuel future eruptions Other volcanologists call a volcano active only if it has erupted in historical time and is considered likely to do so in the near future

DISCUSSION

But what does historical time even mean? Do they count myths and legends as historical records, or do they have to be written? What about areas of the world that have no written records, but may still have oral histories going back thousands of years? Historical time varies widely depending on what region of the world youre looking at and what are accepted as accurate historical records, its an arbitrary way of describing a time period.

DISCUSSION

The lack of an overarching consensus on the meaning of these terms is a sticky spot in volcanology, a source of confusion when it comes to dealing with nonscientists. Volcanologists may be hesitant to declare a volcano dormant for scientific purposes, Which volcanoes most urgently need to be studied and monitored and support of nonscientists to the work if they consider the volcano to be dormant

DISCUSSION

Seulawah Agam and Sinabung havent erupted since the 19th century which is more than enough time for people living near those volcanoes to forget that they are volcanoes. . whether or not a volcano has been historically active, its important to remember that natural phenomena operate on geologic as well as human timescales; what seems like a quiet, forested mountain one day may become a violently exploding volcano, though there are usually precursory signs. (Jessica Bell ,2010,)

Basicaly the terms dormant and active are much more arbitrary. A nonscientist who lives near a volcano might assume the volcano is dormant or may not even know its a volcano because there have been no eruptions in living memory. (Living memory means that the oldest people in a community have seen the last activity at a volcano.) Historical records may add several hundred years to a communitys memory of eruptions, but that depends on people having knowledge of those records. Even if eruptions are known to have occurred in the past few centuries, a volcano may still not be considered active by the general public unless it is visibly erupting.

 The

severity of the eruption, on the basis of which volcanoes are characterized, is the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The term VEI was basically devised to give a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions..

EXTINCT VOLCANO
A volcano

that has not erupted for a long time. Considered unlikely to do so in future. One indication that a volcano is extinct is that extensive erosion has taken place since last eruption. A truly extinct volcano is no longer fuelled by magma source. Iceland mount Helgafjell

Refferences

. Connor, A R. McBirney, Furlan. What is the Probability of Explosive Eruption at a Long-Dormant Volcano, long dormant volcano. (No pub details) Dolgoff, A 1998. Essentials of physical geography. Oxford University Press. Szak6c 1994. Redefining active volcanoes: discussion. Bull Volcano journal. Active volcanoes in europe http://www.buzzle.com/articles/active-volcanoes-in-europe.html --> Voices: Dead or alive ... or neither? Why a dormant volcano is not a dead one http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voicesdead-or-alive-or-neither-why-dormant-volcano-not-dead-one -->