Volcano

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. This article is about the geological feature. For other uses, seeVolcano (disambiguation)

Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaskaphotographed from the International Space Station, May 2006

Cross-section through a stratovolcano(vertical scale is exaggerated): 1. Large magma chamber 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano 2. Bedrock 10. Throat 3. Conduit (pipe) 11. Parasitic cone 4. Base 12. Lava flow 5. Sill 13. Vent 6. Dike 14. Crater 7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano 15. Ash cloud 8. Flank

Pinatubo ash plume reaching a height of 19 km, 3 days before the climactic eruption of 15 June 1991

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma,volcanic ash and gases to escape from below the surface. Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. A mid-oceanic ridge, for example the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, has examples of volcanoes causedby divergent tectonic plates pulling apart; the Pacific Ring of Fire has examples of volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together. By contrast, volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide Earth's crust in past one another. Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the the interiors of plates, e.g., in the East African Rift, the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and the Rio Grande Rift in North America. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of "Plate hypothesis" volcanism.[1] Intraplate volcanism has also been postulated to be caused bymantle plumes. These so-called "hotspots", for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs from the core -mantle boundary, 3,000 km deep in the Earth.

Etymology
The word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn originates from Vulcan, the name of a god of fire in Roman mythology.[2]The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology.

Plate tectonics

Map showing the divergent plate boundaries (OSR Oceanic Spreading Ridges) and recent sub aerial volcanoes.

Divergent plate boundaries

Main article: Divergent boundary At the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another. New oceanic crust is being formed by hot molten rock slowly cooling and solidifying. The crust is very thin at mid -oceanic ridges due to the pull of the tectonic plates. The release of pressure dueto the thinning of the crust leads to adiabatic expansion, and the partial melting of themantle causing volcanism and creating new oceanic crust. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore most volcanic activity is submarine, forming new seafloor. Black smokers or deep sea vents are an example

of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, Iceland.

Mount Rinjani eruption in 1994, inLombok, Indonesia

Lava enters the Pacific at the Big Island of Hawaii

Convergent plate boundaries

Main article: Convergent boundary Subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the oceanic plate subducts, or submerges under the contin ental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. Water released from the subducting plate lowers the melting temperature of the overlying mantle wedge, creatingmagma. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high silica content, so often does not reach the surface and cools at depth. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed. Typical examples for this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire.

"Hotspots"
Main article: Hotspot (geology) "Hotspots" is the name given to volcanic provinces postulated to be formed bymantle plumes. These are postulated to comprise columns of hot material that rise from the core -mantle boundary. They are suggested to be hot, causing large -volume melting, and to be fixed in space. Because the tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant aftera while and a new volcano is then formed as the plate shifts over the postulated plume. TheHawaiian Islands have been suggested to have been formed in such a manner, aswell as the Snake River Plain, with the Yellowstone Caldera being the part of the North American plate currently above the hot spot. This theory is currently under criticism, however.[1]

Volcanic features

Conical Mount Fuji in Japan, at sunrise from Lake Kawaguchi (2005)

The most common perception of a volcano is of aconical mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from acrater at its summit. This describes just one of many types of volcano, and the features of volcanoes are much more complicated. The structure and behavior of volcanoes depends on a number of factors. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater, whereas others present landscapefeatures such as massive plateaus. Vents that issue volcanic material (lava, which is what magma is called once it has escaped to the surface, andash) and gases (mainly steam and magmatic gases) can be located anywhere on the landform. Many of these vents give rise to smaller cones such as Pu u   on a flank of Hawaii's K lauea.

Lakagigar fissure vent in Iceland, source of the major world climate alteration of 178384.

Skjaldbreiur, a shield volcano whose name means "broad shield"

January 2009 image of the rhyolitic lava dome of Chaitn Volcano, southernChile during its 20082009 eruption

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