Learn about how the four different types of volcanoes (composite, shield, cinder cone, and lava dome) form and watch videos of how they erupt.
Plinian eruptions, named after Pliny the Younger, whose uncle was killed in the Plinian eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, are the most severe and extreme of the volcanic eruptions. They consist of an extremely tall column of ash and magma being ejected all the way into the stratosphere (...
The different types of volcanoes are cinder cone, composite, shield, and lava volcano. The classification of volcanoes is based on the time of occurrence, and they are active, dormant, and extinct. Click here to learn about types of volcanic eruptions
They usually form when magma (岩浆) rises, but doesn't break through the surface. The land rises instead. Plains are large, flat areas of land. Since flat land is easy to build on, many cities are on plains. Many plants can grow on plains as well. Some plains are by oceans and ...
Volcanic or lava domes are created by small masses of lava which are too viscous (thick) to flow very far. Unlike shield volcanoes, with low-viscosity lava, the magma from volcanic domes just pile up over and around the vent. The dome grows by expansion of the lava within, and the moun...
magma plumbing systemThe Klyuchevskoy group of volcanoes (KGV) in Kamchatka includes three presently active volcanoes (Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, and Tolbachik) located close together in an area of approximately 50?×?80?km. These three volcanoes have completely different compositionsand eruption ...
A volcano’s main vent is the weak point in the Earth’s crust where hot magma has been able to rise from the magma chamber and reach the surface. The familiar cone-shape of many volcanoes are an indication of this, the point at which ash, rock and lava ejected during an eruption fal...
If one of the colliding plates is topped with oceanic crust, it is forced down into the mantle where it begins to melt. Magma rises into and through the other plate, solidifying into new crust. Magma formed from melting plates solidifies into granite, a light colored, low-density rock th...
Main Vent: A volcano's main vent is the weak point in the Earth's crust where hot magma has been able to rise from the magma chamber and reach the surface. The familiar cone-shape of many volcanoes are an indication of this, the point at which ash, rock and lava ejected during an ...
magma from deep in Earth's interior breaks through the crust and builds up on the surface, whether quietly or explosively. Volcanism can form islands, such as Hawaii, built on a series of broad basaltic shield volcanoes. Volcanoes on continents can also appear isolated and almost island-like ...