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What you
should
know about
volcanoes

What is a volcano?

Volcanoes are some of the most

interesting features on Earth; they
are basically ruptures in the Earth’s
crust which allow magma to flow
upwards. If you want to
understand volcanoes, you have to
understand plate tectonics. The
surface of our planet is not one big
“A volcano is a spot in Earth’s crust where
piece – it is broken into 17 major, molten rock, volcanic ash and certain types of
rigid tectonic plates, that move gases escape from an underground
one in relationship to the other. chamber. Magma is the name for that molten
rock when it’s below ground. Scientists call
These tectonic plates “float” on a
it lava once that liquid rock erupts from the
hotter, softer layer in the Earth’s ground — and may start flowing across Earth’s
mantle. When that very hot and surface. (It’s still “lava” even after it’s cooled and
viscous layer comes up towards solidified.)

the surface, it’s Roughly 1,500 potentially active volcanoes exist

called “magma”. Volcanoes on
Earth are generally located in areas
where the tectonic plates diverge
or converge with each other. It’s
across our planet, according to scientists at the
U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS. About 500
volcanoes have erupted since humans have been
keeping records. Of all volcanoes that have
erupted in the past 10,000 years, roughly 10

easy to understand if you look at a
world map with the plate tectonics
and volcanoes:
percent reside in the United States. Most of
them exist in Alaska (particularly in the Aleutian
Island chain), in Hawaii and in the Cascade
Range of the Pacific Northwest”.

Basically, volcanoes only
form where there’s a way for the
magma to migrate towards the
surface – such as a plate
discontinuity or an area where the
crust is very thin. There are also so-
called “hotspots” – areas where
the underlying mantle is much
hotter than in other areas, either
due to mantle plumes or
lithospheric extension (it’s not
clear yet which of the two theories
is correct). Examples of hotspots
include Hawaii and the Portuguese
island of Madeira, but for the most
part, volcanoes lie at the edge of
tectonic plates.
The three main types of
volcanoes are:
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stratovolcano (or composite
volcano) — a conical volcano
consisting of layers of solid lava
flows mixed with layers of other
rock.
cinder cone volcano — doesn’t
have any horizontal layers, and is
instead a steep conical hill of
tephra (volcanic debris) that
accumulates around and
downwind from the vent.
shield volcano — a type of volcano
built entirely or mostly from fluid
lava vents. They are named like this
because when viewed from above,
you can see just how massive and
imposing they are – like a warrior’s
shield.
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Where do volcanoes Many of the world’s active

volcanoes reside along an arc.
form?
Known as the “Ring of Fire,” this
Volcanoes can form on land or
arc surrounds the Pacific Ocean.
below the sea. Indeed,
(In fact, it was the fiery lava
Earth’s biggest volcano lies
erupting from volcanoes all along
submerged a mile below the
this boundary that inspired the
ocean’s surface. Certain spots on
arc’s nickname.) Along almost all
our planet’s surface are especially
sections of the Ring of Fire, a
susceptible to volcano formation.
tectonic plate is shoving beneath
Most volcanoes, for instance, form
its neighbor.
at or near the edges —
or boundaries — of
Earth’s tectonic plates.
These plates are large slabs of
crust that jostle and scrape past
each other. Their movement is
driven largely by the circulation of
the scalding, liquid rock in Earth’s
mantle. That mantle is thousands
of kilometers (miles) thick. It lies
between our planet’s outer crust
and its molten outer core. Many more of the world’s
The edge of one tectonic plate may volcanoes, especially those located
begin sliding beneath a far from the edge of any plate,
neighboring one. This process is develop over or near broad plumes
known as subduction. The of molten material that rise up
downward-moving plate carries from Earth’s outer core. These are
rock back toward the mantle, called “mantle plumes.” They
where temperatures and behave very much like the blobs of
pressures are very high. This hot material in a “lava lamp.”
disappearing, water-filled rock (Those blobs rise from the heat
melts easily. source at the bottom of the lamp.
Because the liquid rock is lighter When they cool, they fall back
than the surrounding material, it towards the bottom.)
will try to float back up toward Many oceanic islands are
Earth’s surface. When it finds a volcanoes. The Hawaiian Islands
weak spot, it breaks through. This formed over one well-known
creates a new volcano. mantle plume. As the Pacific plate
gradually moved northwest over
that plume, a series of new

volcanoes punched their way
through to the surface. This
created the island chain. Today,
that mantle plume fuels volcanic
activity on the island of Hawaii. It’s
the youngest island in the chain.
A small fraction of the world’s
volcanoes form where Earth’s
crust is being stretched apart, as it
is in East Africa. Tanzania’s Mount
Kilimanjaro is a prime example. In
these thin spots, molten rock can
break through to the surface and
erupt. The lava they exude can
build, layer upon layer, to create
tall peaks.
How deadly are
volcanoes?
Throughout recorded history,
volcanoes have probably killed
about 275,000 people, according
to a 2001 study led by researchers
at the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C. Scientists
estimate that almost 80,000 of the
deaths — not quite one in every
three — were caused
by pyroclastic flows. These hot
clouds of ash and rock sweep down
a volcano’s slopes at hurricane
speeds. Volcano-
triggered tsunamis likely triggered
another 55,000 deaths. These big
waves can pose a threat to people
living along coasts even hundreds
of kilometers (miles) from the
volcanic activity.
Many volcano-related deaths
happen in the first 24 hours of an
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eruption. But a surprisingly high
fraction — about two in every
three — occurs more than a month
after an eruption begins. These
victims may succumb to indirect
effects. Such effects might include
famines when crops fail. Or people
may return to a danger zone and
then die in landslides or during
follow-up eruptions.
Each of the past three centuries
has seen a doubling of fatal
volcanic eruptions. But volcanic
activity has remained roughly
constant during recent centuries.
This suggests, the scientists say,
that much of the increase in
fatalities is due to population
growth or to the decision of people
to live (and play) near (or on)
volcanoes.
For instance, nearly 50 hikers died
on September 27, 2014, while
climbing Japan’s Mount Ontake.
The volcano
unexpectedly erupted. Some 200
other hikers escaped to safety.
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with snow or ice, lava flows can

How big can a volcanic melt it. That can create a thick mix
of mud, ash, soil and rocks. Called
eruption be?
a lahar, this material has a
Some volcanic eruptions amount
consistency like wet, newly mixed
to small, relatively harmless puffs
concrete. It can flow far from the
of steam and ash. At the other
peak — and destroy anything in its
extreme are cataclysmic events.
path.
These can last for days to months,
Nevado del Ruiz is a volcano in the
changing climate across the globe.
South American nation of
Early in the 1980s, researchers
Colombia. Its eruption in 1985
invented a scale to describe the
created lahars that destroyed
strength of a volcanic eruption.
5,000 homes and killed more than
This scale, which runs from 0 to 8,
23,000 people. The lahars’ effects
is called the Volcanic Explosivity
were felt in towns up to 50
Index (VEI). Each eruption gets a
kilometers (31 miles) from the
number based on the amount of
volcano.
ash spewed, the height of the ash
plume and the power of the
eruption.
For each number between 2 and 8,
an increase of 1 corresponds to an
eruption that’s ten times more
powerful. For example, a VEI-2
eruption releases at least 1 million
cubic meters (35 million cubic feet)
of ash and lava. So a VEI-3 eruption
releases at least 10 million cubic
meters of material.
Small eruptions pose a threat only
to nearby regions. Small clouds of
ash might wipe out a few farms
and buildings on the slopes of a
volcano or on the surrounding
plains. They also might smother A volcano’s threats can even
crops or grazing areas. That could extend into the sky. Ash plumes
trigger a local famine. can reach altitudes at which jets
Larger eruptions pose different fly. If ash (which actually is tiny bits
types of hazards. Their ash can of broken rock) gets sucked into an
spew dozens of kilometers from aircraft’s engine, high
the peak. If the volcano is topped temperatures there can re-melt

the ash. Those droplets can then
solidify when they hit the engine’s
turbine blades.
This will disrupt the flow of air
around those blades, causing the
engines to fail. (That’s not
something anyone would like to
experience when they are several
kilometers in the air!) What’s
more, flying into a cloud of ash at
cruising speed can effectively
sandblast a plane’s front windows
to the point that pilots can no
longer see through them.
Finally, a really big eruption can
affect global climate. In a very
explosive eruption, particles of ash
can reach altitudes above where
rains are available to quickly wash
them from the air. Now, these ash
bits can spread around the world,
diminishing how much sunlight
reaches Earth’s surface. This will
cool temperatures globally,
sometimes for many months.
Besides spewing ash, volcanoes
also emit a witches’ brew of
noxious gases, including carbon
dioxide and sulfur dioxide. When
sulfur dioxide reacts with the
water vapor spewed by eruptions,
it creates droplets of sulfuric acid.
And if those droplets make it to
high altitude, they too can scatter
sunlight back into space, cooling
climate even more.
It’s happened.
In 1600, for instance, a little-
known volcano in the South
American nation of Peru erupted.
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Its ash plumes cooled global
climate so much that many parts of
Europe had record-setting
snowfalls the next winter. Large
portions of Europe also suffered
unprecedented floods the next
spring (when the snow melted).
Heavy rains and cool temperatures
during the summer of 1601
ensured massive crop failures in
Russia. The famines that followed
lasted through 1603.
In the end, this one eruption’s
impacts resulted in the deaths of
an estimated 2 million people —
many of them half a world away.
(Scientists didn’t make the
connection between the Peruvian
eruption and the Russian famines
until several years after the 2001
study that estimated the death
tolls from all volcanoes in recorded
history.)
Why we need volcanoes?
The eruption of volcanoes through
geologic time built the continents.
The soil of some of the world's
richest farmland draws its fertility
from minerals provided by nearby
volcanoes. The heat of magma
boils water into steam that spins
the turbines of geothermal power
stations. Geothermal stations now
light electric power grids in
Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, and a
other places. Enough heat flows
from the world's volcanic regions
and midoceanic ridges to power
industrial civilization for several
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hundred million years. This power

source awaits only the
development of feasible
geothermal technology.