Volcanoes Get Ready for an ERUPTION!!!

What is a volcano? A weak spot in the crust where molten material, or magma, comes to the surface Magma- melted rocks and minerals from the mantle Lava- Magma that reaches the surface

Where are volcanoes located? Volcanoes can be found: –Diverging Plate boundaries (mid-ocean ridge) –Converging plates with subduction zones Oceanic plate vs. oceanic plate Oceanic plate vs. continental plate –Hot spotsHot spots Area where magma from deep within the mantle melts through the crust like a blow torch –Example: Hawaiian IslandsHawaiian Islands

What is the Ring of Fire? The majority of Volcanoes on earth are located around the edge of the Pacific Plate, which is the tectonic plate that holds the Pacific ocean. The outer boundary of this plate is nicknamed the Ring of Fire because of the number of Earthquakes and Volcanoes that occur there.

Results of Volcanoes Are constructive: –add new rock to existing land – form new islands Can be destructive –explosive eruptions changes the landscape of and around the volcano

Eruptions Why do volcanoes erupt? –Less dense magma seeps upward through cracks and creates volcanoes –Gas in the magma is trapped and builds pressure –Closer it gets to surface the less pressure it has and the gases separate (bubbles) –Gases dissolve on the surface and magma is carried out

Types of Eruptions determined by amount of silica (material made from the elements oxygen and silicon) 2 types: –Quiet Lava moves steadily and easily –Explosive Thick, sticky lava plugs vent like a cork and builds up pressure Explodes and releases pyroclastic flow –Volcanic ash: fine, rock particles –Cinders: pebble sized particles –Bombs: baseball to car sized particles

Types of Rocks Produced Type of lava produces different types of rocks –High silica lava: thicker, sticky, lighter colored Rhyolite Pumice obsidian –Low silica lava: flows readily, dark colored basalt

Stages of a Volcano Active: (live) erupting or has shown signs that it may erupt In the near future Dormant: (Sleeping) is not currently erupting but may/can erupt in the future Extinct: (dead) unlikely to erupt again

Other Volcanic Activity Hot springs –Groundwater is heated by near by magma rising to the surface and collects in natural pools

Other Volcanic Activity Geyser –Rising hot water and steam that gets trapped underground and builds pressure until it sprays to the surface

Land Formations from Lava & Ash Shield Volcano –Created by hot spots –Gently sloping Cinder Volcano –Steep –Cone-shaped hill/mountain Composite Volcano –Tall, cone-shaped mountain –Alternating layers of ash and lava

Land Formations from Lava & Ash Lava Plateaus –Lava moves far from the volcano before cooling which forms high plateaus Calderas –Huge hole left by the collapse of a volcanic mountain All magma has been emptied leaving a hollow shell that collapses