Jada Sloan

August 24, 2021

3rd Period

All About Volcanoes

 Volcanoes have created 80% of Earth’s surface. About 1,500 volcanoes are still
considered active now, meaning they can erupt at any time. 160 of those are on the boundaries of
the United States. Each volcano eruption is different. Some burst in explosive eruptions others,
spew amounts of lava in what’s considered to be an effusive eruption. The difference of
eruptions all depends on the chemistry guiding the molten activity. These explosive eruptions
cause craters and even mountains. Lava spreads into bleak landscapes but as time goes by, it
creates surprisingly fertile soil. This has allowed civilizations to expand and flourish.
Volcanoes can impact climate change. Gasses like sulfur dioxide can cause global cooling,
while volcanic carbon dioxide could lead to global warming. Once sulfur dioxide reaches the
stratosphere, fast moving winds can quickly spread the ash cloud around the world giving an
eruption a huge global impact. The Pinatubo ash cloud (the most recent and significant volcano
eruption) extended 35 kilometers into the atmosphere, cooling parts of the world by up to 0.40
for two years since the eruption. Recent research has even shown that small eruptions could be
contributing too to slower surface temperature rise in the last 15 years.

Volcanic eruptions are proven to influence more than just temperature. They have changed
the earth's surface as well. The molten rock, or also called magma, escapes the earth and creates
rock formations or mountains. The magmas turn into lava when it comes up, which hardens on
the Earth’s surface after it spreads, turning into rock and adding on to the earth's surface.
A volcano is just an opening on Earth’s surface where molten rock that is pipped from the
middle of the volcano pours out. Underneath the Earth’s surface, that molten rock is referred to
as magma, but once it spews out and erupts it's called lava. As mentioned before there are about
1,5000 volcanoes located all over the Earth's surface and on every continent, even Antarctica.
There are between 50 and 60 volcanoes that erupt around the world each year.
Earth's innermost layer is a solid core made from iron. It's outer core is a molten mixture
of iron and nickel. These layers all around the Earth's mantle (the layer that líes between Earth's
extremely heated core and its thin outer layer that were all familiar with the crust). Earth's crust
is made of tectonic plates that stretch all across the planet. Each year that move a few inches.
One way these volcanoes are created is when these plates move away from each other it
allows the magma from below to creep in. These are also called divergent plate boundaries. The
volcanoes made this way are a type of long, & sloping called a shield volcano. Erra Ale in
Ethiopia and Laki in Iceland are examples of this.

Another way volcanoes are created is called convergent plate boundary, This is when one
tectonic plate slides beneath another, making it melt when it enters the mantle. The molten rock
starts to melt the rock above it, and the melted rock, which is less dense than tha rock around it,
rises. The volcanoes made this way are steep- sided called a stratocone. Volcanoes in Japan, in
the Cascades in the United States and along the west coast of South America is another example
of this.

On rare occasions molten rock rises up through Earth's crust. These are called hot spots.
Many of these happen far away from the tectonic plates for example, in Hawaii. Its active
volcanoes are caused by a long stream of magma that is piped up from the mantle. In some
stances you have both. An example of that is in Iceland which was formed from divergent plates
and a hotspot.
So why do volcanoes erupt? It's because deep within the Earth it's so hot that some rocks
slowly melt and become thick. This is what we call magma. Since it's lighter and less dense than
solid rock it rises up in what's known as the magma chamber. After some time, the magma
pushes through the vents in the chamber and on it's way to the Earth's surface. This is when an
eruption occurs. When traveling to the earth's surface it collects dissolved gasses such as carbon
dioxide, water vapor and sulfur dioxide with it.
 If the magma is thick and “goopy” those gases can become trapped and start to build up
pressure under the volcano. When the lava finally erupts from the volcano it is a mixture of the
gasses mentioned before, ash and rock. Explosions like these are very explosive, from all the
built up pressure. Oftentimes the eruption is so explosive it actually causes the top of the volcano
to collapse, like YellowStone and Crater Lake. Some volcanoes do the opposite, they erupt in a
runny with very little explosion. These “soupy” type lavas travel further and create the shield
form.
Volcanoes can cause rain, thunder and lightning after an eruption, Volcanoes can also have
a longer effect, making the world cooler. Fast - moving lava can kill people and ash could make
it difficult to breathe, and even in some cases suffocate. They can also die from scarcity of food,
fires and earthquakes. Lava can kill all living forms, including plants and animals. Volcanoes can
destroy houses, roads, fields and possessions. The Mount St Helens volcano in 1980 for example,
killed an estimated 24,000 animals and 57 people. Mount St Helens was named the deadliest in
U.S. history.
Earth isn’t the only planet that has volcanoes. Several volcanoes rise above the surface of
Mars. Mercury and Venus both show signs of volcanoes. Surprisingly enough Earth doesn't have
the most active volcanoes, but Io (the fourth largest moon in the solar system) does. Io is also the
innermost of the four largest moons of Jupiter. It has more than 400 volcanoes, some spew of
sulfur - rich material 500 kilometers into space.
Throughout history volcanoes have killed about 275,000 people. Scientists estimated
almost 80,000 of these deaths were caused by what's known as pyroclastic flows. A pyroclastic
flow is a dense, fast-moving flow of solidified lava pieces, volcanic ash, and hot gases. These hot
clouds of ash and rock run down the volcanoes at top of the notch speed. Volcanic eruptions also
trigger tsunamis and could possibly trigger 55,000 of these deaths. These big waves could cause
a problem to those living near the coast and far away from the volcano. Most volcano related
deaths happen in the 24 hours of an eruption however, a crazy amount occurs more than a month
after and after an eruption begins.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. t volcanic
activity has remained roughly constant during recent centuries. volcanic activity has remained
constant during recent centuries. This suggests, the scientists say, that much of the increase in
deaths and injuries is due to population growth or to the decision of people to live and play near
(or on) volcanoes. An example of this is when nearly 50 hikers died on September 27, 2014,
while climbing Japan’s Mount Ontake. The volcano all of a sudden erupted; around 200 hikers
escaped.
There is no way to know when exactly a volcano is about to erupt. Since then our
technology is more advanced compared to what it used to be. Now scientists are looking at
warning signs to predict eruptions. These warning signs include higher gas emissions, ground
deformation, and increased seismic activity (the types, frequency and size of earthquakes that
happen over a period of time in a certain area) give clues about whether a volcano might erupt.
Volcanoes produce dangerous eruptions but also beneficial to our world. They create new land,
provide rich soil for farmers, and even supply our community with geothermal energy. Learning
more about volcanoes helps us learn about our ever changing environment.

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