Volcano
hideA volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface. Volcanic activity involving the extrusion of rock tends to form mountains or features like mountains over a period of time. The word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano island off Sicily. In turn, it was named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. A mid-oceanic ridge, for example the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, has examples of volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates pulling apart; the Pacific Ring of Fire has examples of volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together. By contrast, volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past one another. Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the Earth's crust (called "non-hotspot intraplate volcanism"), such as in the African Rift Valley, the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and the Rio Grande Rift in North America and the European Rhine Graben with its Eifel volcanoes.
Volcanoes can be caused by mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example at Hawaii, can occur far from plate boundaries. Hotspot volcanoes are also found elsewhere in the solar system, especially on rocky planets and moons.
For more information about Volcano, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with volcano
Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extinction
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 26, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (15) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago.
Lost World Found in Papua New Guinea Volcano
Sep 08, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (55) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A BBC expedition exploring inside the crater of an extinct volcano in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has discovered a lost world of dozens of weird new species and rare animals, including new frogs, ...
Colombia volcano rumbles back to life
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 01, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
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Officials in southern Colombia have issued a code orange alert for the newly-active Galeras volcano which they said could erupt in a matter of days or weeks, according to the state-run Geological and Mining ...
New clues in Easter Island hat mystery
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 07, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (13) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of archaeologists has come one step closer to unravelling the mystery of how the famous statues dotting the landscape of a tiny Pacific island acquired their distinctive red hats.
NASA Goes Inside a Volcano, Monitors Activity
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 07, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have placed high-tech "spiders" inside and around the mouth of Mount St. Helens, one of the most active volcanoes in the United States. Networks such as these could one day be used ...
Oxidized lava may help explain Earth's evolution
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2009 |
3.4 / 5 (5) |
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(AP) -- Material from volcanoes where the Earth's plates squeeze together is more oxidized than in regions where the seafloor splits apart, a finding that helps shed light on some of the basic processes in ...
Dust plays larger than expected role in determining Atlantic temperature
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 26, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (17) |
13
(PhysOrg.com) -- The recent warming trend in the Atlantic Ocean is largely due to reductions in airborne dust and volcanic emissions during the past 30 years, according to a new study.
Mountain on Mars may answer big question
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 04, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (17) |
1
The Martian volcano Olympus Mons is about three times the height of Mount Everest, but it's the small details that Rice University professors Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan are looking at in thinking about ...
Alchemy in Tanzania? Gas Becomes Solid at Surface of Oldoinyo Lengai Volcano
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 06, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Science has unearthed the secret to what might have been alchemy at Oldoinyo Lengai volcano in Tanzania.
Ash shows past eruptions 'underestimated'
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 06, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (7) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A study into ash fallout from the biggest volcanic eruption in almost 20 years has shown that the impact of past eruptions is likely to have been significantly underestimated as so much of ...
Earth's highest known microbial systems fueled by volcanic gases
Mar 03, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
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Gases rising from deep within the Earth are fueling the world's highest-known microbial ecosystems, which have been detected near the rim of the 19,850-foot-high Socompa volcano in the Andes by a University ...
Chilean eruption highlights risk from 'rhyolitic' volcanoes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 07, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (13) |
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Magma from a Chilean volcano shot through Earth's crust at around a metre (3.25 feet) per second, a speed highlighting the perils from so-called rhyolitic volcanoes, scientists reported on Wednesday.
World's largest telescope to be built in Hawaii
Jul 22, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Hawaii was chosen Tuesday as the site for the world's biggest telescope, a device so powerful that it will allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away and get a glimpse into the early ...
Huge undersea mountain found off Indonesia: scientists
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 29, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (16) |
13
A massive underwater mountain discovered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra could be a volcano with potentially catastrophic power, a scientist said Friday.
Scientists Pierce Veil of Clouds to 'See' Lightning Inside a Volcanic Plume
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 08, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers hit the jackpot in late March, when, for the first time, they began recording data on lightning in a volcanic eruption--right from the start of the eruption.
