Active Volcano Crater, Ecuador

Originally uploaded by dotnethed

This picture of Tungurahua Volcano in Ecuador was found on the photoshare site, Flickr. If you were asked to draw a “typical volcano” this is the classic cone shape you would probably sketch. Many of the world’s most famous volcanoes are cone shaped-or composite volcanoes, but there are other types, too. Volcanoes tend to be found in 3 main physical regions across the world:

1. Constructive plate boundaries-ie where the sea floor is spreading as new crust is formed

2. Destructive plate boundaries-ie where an oceanic and a continental plate collide. One plate goes under the other.

3. Hot Spot-where “bubbles” of magama rise close to the surface.

In this lesson we shall look at;

What? What are the most important volcanoes in the world?
Where? Where are they found? Is there a pattern to their location?
Why? Why are volcanoes only found in particular places? Why are there different types of volcano?
When? when was the last major eruption?
Who? what effect do volcanoes have on people?

Nb 1 volcano
2 or more volcanoes.

Significant volcanoes:

Mount St Helens, Washington state, USA

Vesuvius, Italy

nyiragongo, Congo

Cotopaxi, Mexico

Etna, Scicily

Krakatoa, Indonesia

Popocatepetal, Mexico

Hawaian island chain group of shield volcanoes developing over hot spot, eg Mauna Loa

What’s New?

Volcano Hazards.

Log on to the US Geology Survey update on current volcanoes here.