VOLCANOES' FACTS

What is Volcano?

• A Volcano is an opening which is caused due to pulling apart of divergent tectonic plates or coming closer of convergent tectonic plates. This opening, or rupture in a mountain leads to the eruption of Magma, Volcanic Ash or Gases. These escape from a chamber below the earth called 'Magma Chamber'.

•  Volcanoes do not erupt where two tectonic plates slides past one another but it can take place where there is stretching and thinning of 'Earth's Crust' in the interior of plates.

• There are around 1500 Active Volcanoes across the Globe, and some of these have been erupting for many years to form MAGMA. 

Some Facts About Volcanoes: 

1. Volcanic Rock Pumice (grey and full of bubbly holes) is the only Rock that FLOATS on water.

volcanic rock pumice

Volcano of Yellostone National Park

2. SUPER-VOLCANOES: The most formidable volcano which can cause rain hellfire across thousands of miles and cause Global Weather Change. One of these is in Yellostone National Park, US.

Mount Tambora

3. MOUNT TAMBORA: Here LARGEST VOLCANIC ERRUPTION took place (in year 1815) which killed over 100,000 people. It is situated in Sambawa, Indonesia. The country is known to have largest number of historically Active Volcanoes- around 76.

4. Most volcanoes occur near the edges of tectonic plates, the massive rock slabs that make up Earth's surface. However, some volcanoes, such as the Yellowstone Super-volcano, lie over other "Hot Spots" where magma wells up from deep within the Earth. 

Iceland Volcano April 2010

5. Iceland: Famous as Land of Fire and Ice- perches atop the volcanoes of the Atlantic’s mid-oceanic ridge. The latest eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano (in April 2010) pales in comparison to the violent 1783's eruption of Mount Skaptar, which devastated the island's farming and fishing reserves and caused a famine that killed a fifth of the country's people. 

Mount Pinatubo

6. MOUNT PINATUBO (Philippines): Volcanic Eruption here spewed 22 million tons of Sulphur Dioxide which affected the whole planet and brought down the global temperature to 0.5 degree Celsius. 

7. VOLCANOES CAN GROW: As lava and ash accumulate, they add layers and height to the volcanic surface. This is one common way mountains are built.

8. VOLCANOES CAB BECOME EXTINCT: If scientists do not expect a volcano to ever erupt ever again, they consider it to be extinct. Volcanoes that are not currently active but may erupt again are labeled DORMANT. 

Katmai Caldera

9. The sheer force of some volcanic eruptions can cause its magma chambers to collapse, forming a giant, bowl-shaped crater called a CALDERA.

Hawaii's Mauna Loa 

10. BIGGEST VOLCANO ON EARTH: Hawaii's MAUNA LOA. 

One of the five volcanoes in Hawaii, it towers 13,000 feet above sea level. The Hawaiian Islands were actually created by a hot spot.

Alaska's Kasatochi Volcano 2008
(Colourful Sunset)

11. COLOURFUL SUNSET: Volcanoes make sunsets more colorful. When Alaska's Kasatochi volcano erupted in 2008, people all over the world saw unusually beautiful orange and coral hues in sunsets. This visual phenomenon is the result of fine ash particles in the atmosphere scattering the sun's rays.