Volcanoes of Kamchatka - a selection of interesting facts. Volcanoes - interesting facts

  1. There are three main types of volcanoes. The former includes volcanoes erupting magma, the latter includes those erupting magma and ash, and the third type includes volcanoes erupting only ash.
  2. They can be active, dormant, or extinct.
  3. Volcanoes can grow. Some volcanoes can grow slowly, others grow very quickly. For example, the volcano Parakutin began to erupt on February 20, 1943. By the end of the year, it had grown by 336 meters in height. The volcano fell asleep in 1952, by that time it had grown to 424 meters. In geological terms, this is very fast growth.
  4. There are now 20 active volcanoes in the world. There were 70 active volcanoes last year. Over the past decade, there are 160 active volcanoes. According to scientists, more than 6,000 volcanoes have been active over the past 10,000 years.
  5. Volcanoes are dangerous. The Krakatoa volcano, which woke up in 1883, caused a tsunami that killed more than 36,000 people. Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing 16,000 people. The Pele volcano on the island of Martinique destroyed a city of 30,000 in 1902.
  6. The highest volcano in the solar system is located on Mars. This is Olympus volcano. It is 27 km high and 550 km across.
  7. The tallest volcano on Earth is in Hawaii, this is the Mauna Kea volcano. Its height is 4207 meters.
  8. The most distant point from the center of the Earth is the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador. Peak Everest is not the farthest point from the center of the Earth. Since the earth has the shape of a ball, but is slightly flattened from the poles, and the points located at the equator are further from the center of the earth. Chimborazo volcano is very close to the equator of the Earth.
  9. The word magma comes from the Greek word for dough.
  10. The vent at the top of the volcano is called the caldera, from the Spanish word for pot.
  11. Ancient Hawaiians buried the dead in the lava of volcanoes.
  12. The only continent that does not have an active volcano is Australia.
  13. The word volcano originally comes from the name of the Roman god of fire, Volcano.
  14. The most volcanic object in our solar system is Jupiter's moon Io. Due to the high volcanic activity, its surface is constantly changing
  15. A bird called maleo uses the warmth of lava to hatch chicks.
  16. The most dangerous volcano to date is the Popocatepetl volcano, nicknamed El Popo, which is located just 33 km from El Popo, and is still active, emitting thousands of tons of gas and ash into the atmosphere daily.
  17. The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia is believed to have released 200 megatons of energy, equivalent to the energy of 15,000 nuclear bombs.
  18. From the lava of the Kilauea volcano, you can build a road around the Earth 3 times.
  19. In 1935, the US Air Force bombed a lava flow in the Hawaiian city of Hilo. The stream slowed down and stopped, but no one could prove that the bombing was the cause.
  20. Volcanoes are usually located at the meeting point of tectonic plates.
  21. More than 75% of the world's volcanoes are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire.
  22. Volcanoes are found on the ocean floor and even in polar ice.
  23. Volcanic gases contain water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen sulfide.
  24. Volcanic eruptions rise into the air up to 30 km.
  25. Over the past century, volcanic eruptions have caused the average temperature on Earth to drop several times. The drop in temperature occurs by about half a degree, due to the fact that volcanic ash reflects the sun's rays.
  26. Pumice is a unique volcanic rock that can float in water. It is used as an abrasive and is sometimes used in beauty salons to remove dry skin.
  27. High-altitude volcanic regions have some of the most fertile soils in the world.
  28. Surtsey Island, one of the youngest islands on Earth, was formed in 1963 by an underwater volcanic eruption. The area of \u200b\u200bthe island is 1 square kilometer. The island is named after Surt, a fire giant from Icelandic mythology.
  29. The Pele volcano erupted in 1902 on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, killing more than 30,000 people. Only two people from all over the island survived: a shoemaker who lives on the edge of the island, and a prisoner who was locked in a dungeon chamber with thick stone walls.
  30. Black sand beaches in Iceland and Hawaii are formed from black volcanic glass.
  31. On earth, more than 300 million people (almost 1 in 20) live in the shadow of active volcanoes, including Vesuvius in Italy, Mount Rainer in the United States, and Popocatepetl in Mexico.
  32. In some volcanic areas, such as the thermal energy of magma, it is used to generate electricity. This type of energy is called geothermal.
  33. Japan contains 10% of all volcanoes in the world.
  34. Iceland is composed almost entirely of volcanic rocks.
  35. In Japan, warm volcanic sand baths are used to treat many diseases.

Many years ago people perceived volcanoes as something amazing, incomprehensible, fantastic. Until now, these fire-breathing mountains fascinate with their beauty, grandeur and incredible destructive power. It is known that volcanoes are formed as a result of the movement and collision of tectonic plates. A crack appears in the earth's crust, after which hot gases, stones and magma come to the surface. To make it all easier to imagine and understand, consider interesting facts about volcanoes.

Active and extinct

The planet Earth has a huge number of active volcanoes, not only on land, but also in the oceans. Many people don't even realize that 10 to 20 eruptions occur almost every day. Currently, the most active volcano is Kilauea. In 1983, its eruption began and is still ongoing.

Eruption of Kilauea

Erebus is an active volcano in Antarctica. From its faults, powerful emissions of gases periodically break out, which destroy the ozone layer. But thanks to this volcano, you can enjoy a magnificent spectacle, a lava lake in the middle of eternal snow delights.

Indonesia has another amazing volcano - Kelimutu, on its top as many as three unusual lakes. In each of them, the water periodically changes color - green, red, turquoise and even black. These transformations occur due to a chemical reaction between various minerals dissolved in water and volcanic gases.

Kelimutu crater

The largest geological formation on Earth is Mauna Loa (translated from Hawaiian - "Long Mountain"), 4168 meters above sea level, 9960 meters from the foot, which is located on the ocean floor. The width of the underwater base is 193 kilometers, the area of \u200b\u200bthe lava spill is more than 5000 kilometers. This mountain is only 37 meters higher than an extinct volcano called Mauna Kea (4205 meters). They are both considered shield-based, are found in Hawaii and rise from the ocean floor. If you count from the foot, these are the highest mountains on our planet. Mauna Loa is an active volcano, the eruptions of 1926 and 1950 destroyed the villages at the foot of the mountain, the last eruption was in 1984, this time there were no casualties.

Lava at Mauna Loa

Extinct volcanoes include Ojos del Salado, located on the border between Chile and Argentina. The height of this giant is 6893 meters. We hope that the scientists were not mistaken, and it really will never erupt again.

The most famous volcano is Vesuvius. In 79 AD, there was an eruption that killed three Roman cities - Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia. Today, these cities are archaeological parks and tell very much about life in the Roman Empire, since not only buildings have been preserved almost completely, but also numerous household items that residents did not have time to take with them.

The largest active volcano in Europe is Etna in Sicily. Its height is over 3300 meters. It is difficult to indicate the exact height, since it can change due to constant eruptions.

Horrific aftermath of eruptions

According to researchers, Indonesia has the largest number of historically active volcanoes. On the island of Sumbawa, the largest eruption on record occurred. Due to the activity of the Tambora volcano, about 100,000 people died.

The most dangerous are supervolcanoes, 73 thousand years ago the eruption of Toba led to the formation of a caldera 30 km wide and 100 km long. The amount of released material then amounted to more than 1,000 cubic kilometers. This explosion was enough to obscure the Sun for many years and plunge the world into an ice age.

Mountain and lake Toba

In 1991 in the Philippines, the Pinatubo volcano showed its full power. 22 million tons of sulfur compounds were released into the planet's atmosphere, which caused a decrease in temperature on Earth by about half a degree.

The awakening of the Mont Pele volcano caused the death of almost the entire population of the island of Martinique. Of the thirty thousand people, only three residents of the city of Saint-Pierre survived, among them were two prisoners who were in a poorly ventilated prison, due to poor air access to the prison cell, pyroplastic flows did not harm them.

Volcano on Martinique island

In 1980, there was an eruption of the stratovolcano (conical shape) St. Helens. A huge amount of ash (540 million tons) covered an area that exceeds 57 thousand square meters. km.

In 1883, there was a powerful eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa. During the eruption, 25 cubic kilometers of volcanic rocks were thrown into the air. The sounds of the explosion were heard in the Australian city of Perth, which is located at a distance of more than 3000 thousand kilometers. The eruption was also heard on the island of Rodriguez near Mauritius, which is located 4800 kilometers from Krakatoa. The shock wave circled the Earth seven times in five days. The eruption destroyed 165 settlements, and more than 100 cities and villages were seriously damaged. More than 30 thousand people died, most of them because of the tsunami, the wave of which reached a height of several tens of meters. In the twentieth century, as a result of repeated volcanic eruptions, the island of Anak Krakatau was formed, the name translates as "son of Krakatau". The last eruption was in 1994.

Eruption of Krakatoa

It is important to understand that volcanic eruptions not only bring disasters, they also have great benefits. For example, the lands adjacent to volcanoes are very fertile. After all, a lot of ash is thrown out of the craters, which contains various elements and minerals useful for the soil. Another plus of volcanic activity is the creation of islands. Volcanic processes significantly affect the life of our planet.

There are about one and a half thousand volcanoes on our planet. Only twenty of them erupt annually.

There are three main types of volcanoes. The former includes volcanoes erupting magma, the latter includes those erupting magma and ash, and the third type includes volcanoes erupting only ash.

Word "Volcano"comes from Italian. vulcano, ascending to lat. Vulcanus "Volcano" is the name of the ancient Roman god of fire. This was the custom in ancient Rome, where volcanoes were considered the home of the fire god. It is hardly possible to list all the gods worshiped by the ancient Romans, since their number is estimated at more than one hundred.

In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the volcano is the entrance to the hellish hell (underworld).

One of the largest volcanoes in the world is called Mauna Loa. From Hawaiian it literally translates as "Long Mountain". The volcano occupies most of the island of Hawaii and is considered one of the most active in the world. Mauna Low has erupted exactly 33 times since it was first recorded in 1843. The last time the volcano "came to life" in 1984. Then about 30 thousand acres of land were covered with lava, and the area of \u200b\u200bthe island itself increased by 180 hectares.

50 km from Manila on the island of Luzon is the smallest on the planet active volcano. It is called Taal - after the lake where its crater is located in the form of a protruding island. Taal has erupted more than 30 times since 1572, most recently in 1965.

In Spain, there is a church in the crater of the volcano Santa Margarita.

The highest volcano in the world is translated from Spanish as "salty eyes". Ojos del Salado is located on the border of Argentina and Chile, and rises to 6891 meters.

The longest period of eruption in the XX-XXI centuries was distinguished by Kilauea in Hawaii. Beginning on January 3, 1983, it erupted continuously for 29 years.

Volcanoes can be more than just natural disasters, but also the cause of unexpected events in cultural life. For example, in 1816, unusually cold weather was observed in Western Europe and North America, caused by the eruption of the Tambora volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. This year was nicknamed "the year without summer" and became the coldest year since the beginning of weather observations.

Some volcanic islands such as Iceland and Hawaii have black beaches... Their sand is composed of basalt, a pyrogenic stone that forms when lava cools and crumbles into grains of sand.

The lands on which the volcanoes are located are the most fertile, due to the fact that the eruption saturates the soil with useful substances such as phosphorus and potassium.

About twenty percent of all volcanoes on Earth are underwater.

A bird called maleo uses the warmth of lava to hatch chicks.

The word lavaborrowed from Italian (lava, lat. labor) and French (lave) in the 18th century. It means - "I fall, crawl, slide, go down (down)", or "that which comes down" (down) as a result of a volcanic eruption. When lava flows out, it reaches a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. The lava is different for different volcanoes. It differs in composition, color, temperature, impurities, etc.

In some volcanic areas such as Iceland, the hot energy of magma can be used to heat water and power power plants. This type of energy is called geothermal (earth heat).

Volcanologists measure the power of an eruption on the Volcanic Eruption Instruction (VEI), where 0 is the weakest eruption and 8 is the strongest. Eight is usually intended for the most powerful eruptions, popularly called "supervolcanoes".

At the moment, the most terrible volcanic eruption of the XX century is considered to be a volcanic eruption. Mont Peleon the island of Martinique in the West Indies in 1902. Then more than 30,000 people died, and only two survived: a shoemaker who lived on the edge of the island, and a prisoner who was saved by the thick walls of the prison. ...

In 1963, an underwater volcano created the newest land surface on Earth, Surtsey Island, which is located off the southwestern coast of Iceland.

The largest ash ejection in the XX-XXI centuries was recorded at the volcano St. Helens in 1980. In 9 hours, the mountain spewed about 540 million tons of ash, scattered over an area of \u200b\u200b57,000 square meters.

There is not a single active volcano in Australia, as it is located in the center of a tectonic platform.

In science, a volcano is usually called a formation of geological rocks located on the surface of the earth. Through it, magma erupts outside, which is very hot. It is magma that subsequently forms volcanic gases and rocks, as well as lava. A truly amazing sight is a volcanic eruption.

We tried to collect the most interesting and amazing facts about volcanoes and eruptions.

The word "volcano" comes from the name of the ancient Roman god Vulcan, the lord of the underground fire.

The most dangerous of the active volcanoes today is the Popocatepetl volcano located thirty kilometers from the capital of Mexico.

There is not a single active volcano in Australia.

At the top of the Indonesian volcano Kelimutu, there are three lakes, each of which periodically changes color from turquoise to green, red and black. Such transformations are caused by volcanic gases that react with various minerals dissolved in the water, thereby changing the color of the lakes.

In 1980, volcano St. Helens, located in the northwestern United States, erupted violently. Photographer Robert Landsburg, knowing in advance about the upcoming activation of the volcano, visited the area around for several weeks to capture the phases of its change. On the morning of May 18, when the eruption itself began, he was several kilometers from the summit and realized from the rapidly approaching cloud of smoke that he would not have time to escape. Without any panic, Landsburg continued to take pictures, then packed the camera in a backpack and covered it with his body, which was found under a layer of ash 17 days later. Nothing happened to the camera, and the footage helped geologists compile a complete documentary description of the eruption.

Many inhabited islands are of volcanic origin, such as Grenada.

The lands adjacent to volcanoes are considered one of the most fertile.

The speed of lava flowing out of the mouth of an erupting volcano can reach 70-90 kilometers per hour.

Suritsey Island, located near Iceland, is the youngest island on Earth. It appeared in 1963 as a result of the eruption of an underwater volcano.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the eruption of the Mont Pele volcano on the island of Martinique caused the death of the entire population of the island, killing more than thirty thousand people. By a happy coincidence, only two islanders managed to escape.

There are about one and a half thousand active volcanoes on earth's land.

Archaeologists have found that the eruption of the supervolcano that occurred about 75 thousand years ago caused the effect of a "volcanic winter", blocking the sun for many years, and even caused rains from sulfuric acid.

The power of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in 1980 is comparable to the power of the simultaneous explosion of half a thousand medium-sized atomic bombs.

In Iceland, the energy of volcanoes is used in special geothermal power plants.

On the Spanish island of Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands group, there is a restaurant El Diablo (translated from Spanish - "devil"). Food is cooked here right above the mouth of an active volcano at temperatures over 400 ° C.

In 1693, during the eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily, a powerful earthquake occurred, completely destroying many palaces, churches and entire cities. When they were restored, the architects had a chance to bring new features and colors to the prevailing Baroque style at that time, which led to the creation of a new unique style called the Sicilian Baroque.

The famous Vesuvius volcano erupted for the last time in 1944.

The famous Hawaiian Islands are located in a zone of high volcanic activity. All islands of the archipelago are of volcanic origin.

There are five times less volcanoes on land than under water.

In 1816, unusually cold weather reigned in Europe and North America, and it went down in history as a “year without summer”. The reason was the eruption a year earlier of the Tambora volcano on the other side of the world - the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. That summer, the writer Mary Shelley was vacationing with friends at the villa. Because of the bad weather, they often stayed at home and arranged a competition for writing creepy stories - this is how Shelley's famous novel "Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus" appeared.

A stratovolcano is a particularly powerful volcano that spews gases and ash into the stratosphere.

In 1991, volcano Pinatubo erupted into the atmosphere about five cubic kilometers of various materials during an eruption, and the height of a column of ash and gases was thirty-five kilometers.

Located in Hawaii, Kilauea volcano has been erupting since 1983.

The highest mountain on Earth is Everest - 8,848 meters. However, if measured from the foot, it will be surpassed by the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea. Its total height is 10,203 meters, but most of it is under water. And if measured from the center of the planet, the most distant point will be the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, since due to the imperfect sphericity of the Earth, its radius reaches its maximum at the equator.

The deepest confirmed eruption of an underwater volcano occurred at a depth of one thousand two hundred meters.

Antarctica also has an active volcano - Erebus, which also erupts almost continuously.

A sufficiently powerful eruption of a supervolcano may well completely change the climate on Earth.

On the morning of April 1, 1974, residents of the city of Sitka, Alaska, noticed black smoke rising above the Edgecomb volcano, which is located on the island of Kruse visible from the coast. To assess the seriousness of the situation, a Coast Guard helicopter was sent for reconnaissance. When the pilot approached the crater, he saw a pile of burning rubber tires, and next to it there was an inscription trampled in the snow: "From April 1!". The rally was organized by a group of local pranksters led by Oliver Bikar and was recognized by the press as one of the best in history.

The only volcano whose beginning and end of growth have been documented by humans is Paricutin in Mexico. On February 20, 1943, a farmer and his wife worked in the field and witnessed the beginning of its eruption. In a year, the volcano rose to a height of 336 meters, and two nearby villages were buried under lava and ash. Eight years later, the volcano finally died out, reaching 424 meters.

There are about twenty supervolcanoes on our planet. Scientists claim that they erupt about once every hundred thousand years.

Perhaps the most famous volcano in the world is Etna, the first eruptions of which were recorded three and a half thousand years ago.

The most active volcano in the northern hemisphere is Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Kamchatka.

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Publication date 08/10/2014 08:03

Each of us has heard a lot about volcanoes, someone was even lucky enough to visit one of them, but most have a very superficial idea of \u200b\u200bwhat a volcano is, what its nature is, how they arise and what their nature is. About what volcanoes are, what they are, what they are for - you will find everything about volcanoes in this article below.

What is a volcano?

Essentially, a volcano is a hole in the earth's crust. When a volcano erupts from the interior of the Earth, very hot molten rocks erupt to the surface through this hole. Volcanoes that are often active are called active. Volcanoes that may become active in the future are called dormant. An extinct volcano is a volcano whose activity has ceased forever.

Where are the volcanoes?

There are approximately 840 active volcanoes in the world. Usually there are only 20-30 eruptions per year. Most volcanoes are located near the edges of giant plates that make up the outer layers of the Earth. There is an earthquake every 30 seconds in the world, and only a few of them pose a real danger.

Volcano structure

For those who want to know what the volcano consists of, we advise you to study the following images in detail and carefully:

What is the largest volcano in the world?

The largest volcano in the world is Mauna Loa in Hawaii in the United States, whose dome is 120 km long and 50 km wide. Loihi Volcano is an active volcano off the Hawaiian Islands. It goes under water for 900 m and rises to the surface in the period from 10 thousand to 100 thousand years. You can see this volcano in the photo below:

What are called high-speed waves?

Velocity waves are deep seismic waves traveling through the earth at a speed of 18,000 km / h. They are much faster than sound.

What is the greatest lava flood?

In Iceland in 1783 a very strong fissure eruption took place. At the same time, the incandescent mass spread over a distance of 65-70 km.

When did people walk the sea?

The Kath Mai Volcano in Alaska, USA, in 1912 erupted so much floating pumice that people walked on this sea.

How many active volcanoes are there on earth?

There are currently approximately 1,300 active volcanoes on land. There are also many of them under water, but their number fluctuates, since some stop activity, while others arise. Every dormant volcano can explode unexpectedly. Consequently, those volcanoes that have acted at least once in the last 10 thousand years are considered active.

What is a volcanic eruption?

Volcanic eruptions are a series of cannon-like explosions. They continue at intervals of hours and minutes, and occur as a result of the accumulation of a large volume of gas under the lava plug. During such eruptions, parts of the crater can fly off, the size of which can reach the size of a bus.

What is a Plinian eruption?

When the red-hot magma is saturated with gas and fills the volcano, its mouth explodes, ejecting at twice the speed of sound. The eruption is so strong that the magma breaks down into tiny pieces, and after a few hours the earth may be under a layer of ash. The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD had the same character. At the same time, the Roman writer Pliny could not escape, therefore this type of eruption is called Plinian.

What is a Stombola eruption?

If the magma is liquid enough, crust can form over the lava lake in the volcano's crater. At the same time, large bubbles of gas float out and explode the shell, splashing out volcanic bombs from the semi-molten lava and lava rock fragments. This kind of eruption is called Strombolian from the Italian volcanic island of Stromboli.

What was the most powerful volcanic eruption?

The most powerful eruption of the volcano happened about 20 thousand years ago, when the Toba volcano raged on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. A 100 km long crater formed in its center, and another part of the island was buried under a layer of volcanic rocks more than 300 m thick.

Why die Pompeii?

Throughout the history of mankind, volcanoes have been dangerous for people living next to them. In 79 AD the Roman city of Pompeii was razed to the ground by the erupting volcano Vesuvius. Even now, violent eruptions can harm people.

When did the legend of Atlantis originate?

Around 1645 BC. e. exploded on the Greek island of Santorini. As a result, the Minoan civilization was destroyed. This fact served as the beginning of the legend of the missing mainland Atlantis.

Useful information about volcanoes, geysers, photos of volcanoes

The most dangerous and unpredictable objects on the earth's surface are volcanoes - geological formations that arise above the cracks in the earth's crust, along which hot magma erupts to the ground, burning all life in its path, hot gases and fragments of rocks.

In this case, volcanoes are divided into active, asleep and extinct... Erupted magma is called lava. At times, it slowly pours out of cracks, and sometimes the volcano erupts with a violent explosion of steam, ash, dust and volcanic ash. It is these processes that lead to consequences that do not benefit people. Man today has no means to resist a volcanic eruption, except for flight.

What are pyroclastic flows? When the volcano vent is exposed, it breaks up rocks and creates a colossal amount of debris, ash and pumice - pyroclastic materials. During eruptions, they are the first to rise along the vent. After the hole expands, magma begins to pour out of it. At the same time, the pyroclastic cloud becomes so thick that it cannot mix with the air to rise up. Because of this, it flows out in hot avalanches - pyroclastic flows that move at a tremendous speed, reaching 200 km / h. They can cover large areas with eruption products.

What kind of volcanoes are there?

In places where tectonic plates diverge, magma flows through cracks, forming fissure volcanoes... Rapidly solidified dense lava forms bulk volcanoes... With powerful volcanic eruptions, the caldera settles into the crater. Water often flows into it, and then a lake is formed. The most specific are stratovolcanoes, which are stacked in turn from layers of lava and ash.

Lava erupting from focal and fissure volcanoes is usually fluid. As it cools, it creates basalt rocks such as basalt, gabbro and dolerite. In situ it becomes rocks such as andesite, trachyte and rhyolite.

Volcanic eruptions

Basalt columns. The dense flow of liquid lava, when solidified, can break into hexagonal basalt columns, reminiscent of those found at the Great Dam in Northern Ireland.

Lava pahoehoe. Sometimes rocks on the surface quickly freeze, creating a thin crust over the still viscous and hot lava. If the crust is several centimeters thick, then it cools down to such an extent that you can walk on it. However, if the lava continues to flow, the crust begins to wrinkle. Hawaiians called this lava "pahoehoe", which means "wavy".

Lava aa. If the lava rapidly solidifies into a coarse mass, then it is called "aa". During underwater volcanic eruptions, such as on mid-ocean ridges, water instantly cools and breaks the lava into small, smooth particles called "pillows."

Focal volcanoes. Most volcanoes lie along the boundaries of the crustal plates, as they are above a single accumulation of magma flowing to the surface. Even when the plate moves, such a hearth continues to remain in place, burns and burns it at various points, forming a chain of volcanoes.

What lava can volcanoes have?

Volcanoes can erupt two types of lava: aa-lavu and undulating lava.

Aa-lava is thicker and petrified with sharp fragments of rocks - volcanic slag.

Wavy lava is more fluid and gas-rich lava. When solidified, it creates rocks with a smooth surface, and sometimes flows down, forming long stalactites. Ash clouds emitted by volcanoes are powder from lava.

How geysers appear

Hot springs and geysers are formed by boiling magma. As it flows, rainwater seeps underground and collides with hot magma. Due to the pressure, its temperature can rise, and then the magma will rise again. If hot water is mixed with cold water when going upstairs, it flows out to the surface in the form of a hot spring. If on its way it collides with an obstacle, then it remains under pressure and after that it splashes out in a strong jet, called a geyser.

Eruption force

Individual volcanoes can explode more powerful than an atomic bomb. As a rule, this happens if the magma thickened and became so viscous that it plugged the mouth of the volcano. Inside it, the pressure gradually increases until the magma knocks out such a plug. The strength of eruptions is often measured by the amount of ash that was thrown into the air. When magma flows underground, thanks to the rocks, it takes on various forms. Typically, flowing magma flows into cracks within rocks, a process called conformal intrusion. At the same time, saucer-like rocks are formed, such as lopolites, lenticular - facolites, or flat layers - sills. The viscous magma can press against the rock with such force that it fractures, a process called unconformable intrusion.

Eruption forecast. How realistic is it?

It is extremely difficult to predict the time when the volcano will wake up. Eruptions in Hawaii are calm, frequent, and relatively predictable, but most natural disasters are difficult to predict. The tiltmeter is used as one of the means to determine an impending eruption. It is a device for establishing the steepness of the slopes of a volcano. If it increases, the magma in the center of the volcano swells, and an eruption can occur. But it should be remembered that such changes are accurate only shortly before the eruption, as a result of which this type of forecasting is extremely dangerous.