Volcanic Eruptions and Volcanic

Forms

1. Basaltic Magma
Basaltic
magma
contains
low
percentage of silica and is produced by
the melting of rock upper mantle. This
type of magma flows easily because of
its high temperatue. Basaltic magma is
common at spreading boundaries and
hot spots in the oceans and at rift zones
on the continents. At these places, the
crust is often spil into fissures

Huge volumes of magma erupt from

the fissures and spread over large
area., like floodswater. Over millions of
years,
many
meters
of
basalt
accumulate.

2. Silica Magma
Silica
Magma
contains
a
high
percentage of silica and forms from
the melting of oceanic crust at
colliding boundaries. Such places
include the west coast of South
America and Mexico, the Aleutian
Islands, and Japan.
Silicic magma is cooler than basaltic
magma and does not flow as easily
because it is under great pressure.

Superheated water may escape rather

quietly from thin, runny magmas, or
cause the terrible exsplosions that
throw out great masses of solid rock,
ash, and lava.

Silica and Water Content Affect

Eruptions

Four Main Vulcanoic Forms

Cinder Cones
Cinder cones are the simplest type of vulcano. A
cinder cone forms when the eruptions throw out
mostly rock and ash but produc very few lava
flows. Cinder cones are quite small compared to
other vulcanoes
Shield Vulcanoes
Non explosive eruptions with easy flowing
basaltic lavas. Flow after flow pours out in all
directions from a central vent or group of vent,
building a broad, gently sloping cone

Composite Cones
Alternating violent eruptions of ash
and rocks followed by quiet lava
flows build composite cones. These
are the most common forms of large
continental vulcanoes, and are found
inland
from
colliding
plate
boundaries.

Volcanic Domes
Volcanic domes are built of silicic
lava so thick that it barely flows.
Domes often develop in the craters
of composite vulcanoes. A dome has
built up in the crater left by the
Mount St. Helens eruption and covers
more than a third of the crater flows.
Ehen a dome plugs the vent of a
vulcano, pressure builds up beneath
the dome. This build up pressure
may result in a future eruption.

Volcanic Features
Intrusive Features
Volcanic activity doesnt
always
procedure vulcanoes. Magma usually
doesnt reach the earths surface.
Instead
it
cools
and
hardens
underground, forming intrusive rock.

Batholith
The very large mass of igneous rock is
a Batholith. These features get larger
with depth, and some may be 60 km
thick. The cores of several mountain
ranges, such as Sierra Nevada are
batholits.
Stock
A stock is similar to but smaller than a
batheolith, such as Mount Ellesworth in
southern Utah

Sill and Dike

When magma works its way between
rock layers, a siil forms. When
magma intrudes into cracks that cut
across rock layers, the magma
hardens into a dike. Dikes and sills
vary in size from a few milimeters to
hundreds of meters wide. Some dikes
can be seen snaking along the
surface for several kilometers like a
highway.

 Lacolith
Lacolith forms when magma moves
between rocks layers and pushes up
the rock above it. It similar to a sill
but dome-shaped.
Attols, Necks, and Calderas
The
exploding,
collapsing,
and
eroding vulcanoes produce several
interesting geologic features. When
the top of an oceanic vulcano
collapses or erodes, a ring shape of
the atoll.

The Neck formed as magma hardened

in the vent of the vulcano. Running
water and wind has since eroded the
surrounding cone.
The upper part of vulcano collapsed,
forming
a
large
bowl-shaped
depression called caldera. Water from
rain and melting snow now partly fills
the 1200 meters deep caldera. The
island is a small cinder cone that
developed after the candela formed.