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Volcanoes
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Volcanoes can be considered some of the most violent yet beautiful and spectacular natural phenomena on Earth

What is a volcano? A volcano is basically a rupture or crack in the surface of a planet's crust in which material , usually molten rock and or gases, erupted onto the surface. The word volcano also refers to the geological formation of a mountain produced by the material erupting onto the surface.

The word 'volcano' comes from the Latin Vulcan meaning fire, flames. Vulcan is also the roman god of fire who created weapons for the other gods.   reference: Wikipedia Roman god vulcan

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Why are volcanoes important? Volcanoes are important for a variety of reasons. Some of these include scientific reasons and cultural reasons. For example scientists ( called vulcanologists) want to find out how they work and form. This tells us about how the earth works. Volcanoes are also important from a cultural perspective. This is really about the impact or influence of volcanoes on people. The town of Pucon, Chile at the base of Villarica image credit: K. Nairn One major effect of volcanic eruptions is ash that is sent into the air and the damage they can cause directly or indirectly.

Volcanoes and technology are also important because new tools and devices are developed for studying volcanoes may eventually help to predict or even control , at least some things about volcanoes. For example being able to detect volcanic ash so that it doesn't get into aircraft engines.   Why would people be near volcanoes anyway? Well the main reason is that volcanic ash and debris is very fertile and contains many elements and chemicals that are good for plant growth

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News about Volcanoes Volcanoes are actually rupting all the time around the earth. We often don't really worry about them too much. It's only the ones that explode violently near towns or cities that make the news. Try a search for volcanoes on Google News

Here are some useful links to resources and general information about volcanoes Volcano from Wikipedia Geoscience Australia How Volcanoes work (sdsu.edu)

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How are volcanoes classified? Volcanoes typically are classified by the kind of landforms that they produce. Composite volcano (strato volcano) typical eruptions are violent and explosive calledPlinian but can also have continuous smaller eruptions   Shield volcanoes continuous erputions also called Hawaiian Scoria cones also called strombolian type eruptions and tend to be continuous Calderas ( are essentially the holes left over from an eruption) There are also volcanoes that form underwater.

How does a volcano erupt ? There are a few different ways a volcano can erupt. Sometimes it is slow and oozing with lava building up  and sometimes it is very violent. This again depends on where the volcano is and the kinds of minerals that are in or around the volcano. For example volcanoes with lots of silca tend to be quite sticky and explode quite violently but volcanoes with only a little bit of silica tend to be quite fluid and runny. looking into the firey pit of the crater of of V. Villarica image credit: K. Nairn Volcanic debris from volcan lanin image credit: K. Nairn

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What is the history of volcanoes? Natural history of volcanoes Volcanoes have been part of the Earth's history ever since it has had a solid surface for at least some 4,000 million years. Some volcanoes have been in their present locations for several million years and others for only a few thousand years. A good example of the history of eruptions of volcanoes in a region is along the US west coast in which some volcanoes erupt violently very frequently (every 20-30 years or so) This is the area where mount St. Helens has been recently spewing hot gases. Reference: US Geological Survey

Cultural history of volcanoes Volcanoes have been a part of human culture for thousands of years. One of the first detailed written descriptions of a volcanic erpution comes from the Roman historian Pliny who described an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 Here is the description he wrote translated into english Krakatau erupting on May 27, 1883. From Symons, G., 1888, The Eruption of Krakatau and Subsequent phenomena: Reports of the Krakatau Committee of the Royal Society, Trubner, London. It is certainly possible that other volcanoes may have been recorded by other civilisations. The presence of a volcanoes near people would have inspired religious beliefs, stories, poetry and art works. There is even some suggestion by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato that the fabled lost city of Atlantis (about 1630BC) may have been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. more from SDSU.edu

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The future of volcanoes Will volcanoes be around forever? Theoretically the activity within the earth will slow down and no significant lava will be around to create volcanoes but this is not liekly to happen for several thousand million years.

Supervolcanoes But of more concern is the idea of a large volcanic eruptions sometimes called 'super volcanoes' erupting and causing major devestation. For example the Yellow Stone National Park in the US is believed to be a dormant super volcano that could  devastate a signficant portion of the US and cause major and sudden global climate change.

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