VOLCANOES

What is Volcano?
 A volcano is a mountain that forms
when layers of lava and volcanic ash
erupt and build up.
 Rising magma eventually can lead to
an eruption, where magma , solids,
and gas are spewed out to form cone-
shaped mountains called volcanoes.
 As magma flows onto Earth ‘s
surface through vent , or opening, it is
called lava.
What is Volcano?

 Volcanoes have circular holes near their

summits called craters. Lava and other
volcanic materials can be expelled
through a volcano’s crater.
 Active volcanoes sometimes spew smoke,
steam, ash, cinders, and flows of lava.
 Ashes coming from a
Volcano

 Volcanic ash is a mixture of rock, mineral, and

glass particles expelled from a volcano during a
volcanic eruption.
 Volcanic ash is a mixture of rock, mineral, and
glass particles expelled from a volcano during a
volcanic eruption. 
 Unlike the ash produced by burning wood and
other organic materials, volcanic ash can be
dangerous. Its particles are very hard and usually
have jagged edges. As a result, it can cause eye,
nose, and lung irritation, as well as breathing
problems.
Smoke coming from a
Volcano

  “Black smokers” are chimneys formed

from deposits of iron sulfide, which is
black.
 “White smokers” are chimneys formed
from deposits of barium, calcium, and
silicon, which are white.
 The 'smoke' you see billowing out of a
volcano is actually a mix of mostly
water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur
gases (and ash, during an eruption and
depending on the volcano).
 Here are some stories of
some famous volcanoes.

 In 1902, Mount on the Caribbean Island

of Martinique erupted.
 A very hot gas cloud from the volcano
flowed over a nearby city and killed
almost all of the 30,000 people
 In 1980, Mount Saint Helens in Washington State erupted.
 It was one of the volcanic eruptions in North America
 Heat from the eruption melted snow, which caused flooding in the area
 Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has
been erupting, but not
explosively.
 The lava covered a town and
burned houses in 1990.
 Kilauea is the world’s most
active volcano.
What causes Volcanoes?

 The rock deep inside Earth melts to form magma and that magma is called lava.
 The heat and pressure cause rock to melt and form magma.
 Some deep rocks already are molten
 Magma is less dense than the rock around it, so it very slowly rises toward Earth’s surface
 Example: You can see this process if your turn a bottle of cold syrup upside down. Watch
the less dense air bubbles push the syrup aside and slowly rise to the top.
 Divergent Boundaries

 Iceland is a large island in the North

Atlantic Ocean.
 It is near the Arctic Circle and has some
glaciers
 Iceland has volcanic activity because it sits
on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
 The Mid Atlantic Ridge is a divergent
boundary. Where plates separate, they
form long, deep cracks called rifts.
Convergent
Boundaries
 Mount Saint Helens and the other
volcanic peaks in the Cascade Range
formed because of a convergent plate
boundary.
 Juan de Fuca Plate is converging
with the North American Plate.
 Magma that is created in the
subduction zone works its way to the
surface, forming the volcanoes of
the Cascades.
 Convergent Boundaries
 Volcanoes have formed all around the Pacific Plate
where it collides with other plates.
 Area around the Pacific Plate where earthquakes
and volcanoes are common is called the Pacific
Ring of Fire.
 The Pacific Ring of Fire stretches across 15 more
countries including Indonesia, New Zealand,
Papa New Guinea, Philippines, Japan, United
States, Chile, Canada, Guatemala, Russia and
Peru.
 Mount Saint Helens is just one volcano in the
Pacific Ring of Fire
 Hot Spots
 Like Iceland, the Hawaiian Islands also are volcanic islands
 The Hawaiian Islands are in the middle of the Pacific Plate, far from its edges.
 Geologists believe that some areas in the mantle are hotter than other areas. These hot spots
melt rock which then rises toward the crust as magma.
 Forms of Volcanoes
 A volcano’s form depends on whether it is the result of a quiet or an explosive eruption and the type of lava it
is made of – basaltic or granitic
 Volcanoes are of three basic forms:
 Shiel volcanoes
 Cinder cones volcanoes
 Composite volcanoes
 Cinder Cone Volcanoes

 Cinder cones are simple volcanoes which have a

bowl-shaped crater at the summit and steep sides.
 They only grow to about a thousand feet, the size
of a hill.
 They usually are created of eruptions from a
single opening, unlike a strato-volcano or shield
volcano which can erupt from many different
openings.
 Cinder cones are typically are made of piles of
lava, not ash. During the eruption, blobs
("cinders") of lava are blown into the air and
break into small fragments that fall around the
opening of the volcano.
Composite Volcanoes