Volcanoes

To me, volcanoes are very mysterious and wonderful things.  They can also be beautiful.  And dangerous.  And amazing.  Volcanoes can create new land formations.  Their lava makes very rich soil.  Their eruptions are the foundation of many stories of disaster. 

There are four main types of volcanoes: Hawaiian, Strombolian, Vulcanian, and Peleean.  Hawaiian volcanoes erupt quietly and steadily with thin, liquid lava.  Strombolian eruptions, named after Stromboli, a volcano near Italy, are very explosive.  Their thick lava shoots strait up into the air with each explosion.  Vulcanian volcanoes are named for Vulcano, a volcano near the Italian island of Sicily.  They build up a lot of pressure right before they erupt.  Finally, the pressure becomes so great that it breaks through the top of the volcano and explodes.  Peleean volcanoes, named after Mount Pelee in the Caribbean, erupt very violently.  Lava, gas and ash shoot in the air and down the mountain at high speeds.

There have been many disastrous volcanic eruptions throughout Earth’s history.  Probably the most well known one is the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.  Mount Vesuvius is a volcano near the Italian city of Naples.  In the time of the Roman Empire, many Romans would go to the neighboring towns for vacations. Some of these towns were Pompeii and Herculaneum.  The Romans had no idea that they were in danger of an eruption from Vesuvius, which towered over them.  Then it erupted and the people had no escape.  Centuries later, these two cities were discovered under layers of ash and mud and since then, archaeologists have learned a lot more about Roman life during the time of the Empire.  In 1815, a volcano called Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted causing one of the most destructive eruptions in the history of the world.  The eruption caused a very destructive tsunami.  In 1882, A volcano in Indonesia called Galunggung erupted killing 4,011 people.  In 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatoa erupted.  Although no one was living on the island, a tsunami killed nearly 36,000 people on the nearby islands of Java and Sumatra.  The explosion could be heard all around the world.  In 1902, Mount Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique erupted, destroying the city of St. Pierre.  37, 999 died, leaving only one survivor, a man who was protected by the thick jail walls.  In 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington erupted because of an earthquake causing 57 deaths.  In 1984, the Hawaiian volcano of Mauna Loa, which is largest on earth, erupted for three weeks straight.
                                          

Volcanoes have caused mass devastation and destruction.  But they are still fascinating and awesome.  There is so much that I have said in this article, but there is so much more that I haven’t said like why volcanoes erupt at all!  Or how volcanologists can predict when a volcano will erupt.  There’s so much to say!!