Stratovolcanoes

The place that I would like to visit one day is the Mayon volcano, which is located in the Philippines. Volcanoes are some of the most fascinating things to observe on our planet Earth, and we’re going to dive in on how they are formed and how they effect the planet.

Volcanoes are an opening on the Earth’s surface where hot lava comes out. When it comes out underground, it is called magma, when it pours out on the surface we called it lava. Magma or molten rock has less density than the rocks surrounding it and materials with less density will usually float or rise above higher density items. The magma will try to float to the top and seek out cracks and spaces to go into which form magma chambers. The molten rock stored in the magma chamber rises through the crater pipe pockets. As it travels up, gases expand and water becomes steam, creating pressure. Eventually when something is under a lot of pressure, it will eventually crack. When the pressure can no longer be contained, the volcano erupts through the crater and secondary side vents. Common volcanic gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen sulfide.

Now there are 5 types of volcanoes, starting with the shield volcano. Shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on the earth. The type of lava that gets off of this type of volcano is low in viscosity, meaning it is not thick so the lava will easily flow. The eruption is like a fountain, not explosive. However, when water comes in contact, it can get very explosive. The second type of volcano is the Composite volcano aka the stratovolcano. These volcanoes are made up of multiple elements, so overtime the lava cools down and forms a thick layer of crust near the opening, giving it a conical shape. The lava that comes out of this volcano has high viscosity meaning that it’s thick. These volcanoes often result in explosive eruptions along with lava, large quantities of pyroclastic material and ashes. The third one is called the Caldera. These are the most explosive volcanoes. They’re so explosive that when they erupt, they tend to collapse on themselves, rather than building a very large structure. The explosiveness indicates that the magma chamber supplying the lava is not only huge, but is also in close vicinity. Because the gravity will not allow the lava to go very high, therefore the distance between the magma chamber and the vent opening will close.