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Volcanism. The study of volcanoes and their activities. 5/18/80 - Before. “Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!” During. May 18, 1980. July 22, 1980. After. The Lahar. Cascade Volcanic Peaks. Baker. Adams. Hood. Lassen. Shuksan. Shasta. Rainier. St. Helens.
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Volcanism The study of volcanoes and their activities
Cascade Volcanic Peaks Baker Adams Hood Lassen
Shuksan Shasta Rainier St. Helens A picturesque, cone-shaped structure that periodically erupts violently!
Why the difference? • Temperature – hotter is less viscous • Composition – the more silica, the more viscous • Dissolved gases – gases increase fluidity and decrease viscosity • Viscosity increases explosiveness
Materials extruded from volcanoes • Lava – pahoehoe (ropy), aa (blocky) and pillow lava (water cooled rolling formation) • Gases – 1-6% of the mass (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur, chlorine, hydrogen, argon, and methane) • Pyroclastics – ejected fragments
Pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow is a ground-hugging avalanche of hot ash, pumice, rock fragments, and volcanic gas that rushes down the side of a volcano as fast as 100 km/hour or more. The temperature within a pyroclastic flow may be greater than 500° C, sufficient to burn and carbonize wood.
Pyroclastics • Ash and dust • Cinders • Lapilli (little stones) • Pumice (frothy lava) • Blocks (large rocks) • Bombs (blobs of lava)
Volcanic Cones • Successive eruptions from a central vent result in a mountain-like accumulation of material called a volcano (cone) • Let’s look at shield, cinder, and composite cone types!
This type of volcano can be hundreds of miles across and many tens of thousands of feet high. The individual islands of the state of Hawaii are simply large shield volcanoes. Mauna Loa, a shield volcano on the "big" island of Hawaii, is the largest single mountain in the world, rising over 30,000 feet above the ocean floor and reaching almost 100 miles across at its base. Shield volcanoes have low slopes and consist almost entirely of frozen lavas. They almost always have large craters at their summits.
As you might expect from the name, these volcanoes consist almost entirely of loose, grainy cinders and almost no lava. They are small volcanoes, usually only about a mile across and up to about a thousand feet high. They have very steep sides and usually have a small crater on top.
These volcanoes are typically tens of miles across and ten thousand or more feet in height. As illustrated in the figure above, they have moderately steep sides and sometimes have small craters in their summits. Volcanologists call these "strato-" or composite volcanoes because they consist of layers of solid lava flows mixed with layers of sand- or gravel-like volcanic rock called cinders or volcanic ash.
Volcanic Hazards • Explosion – Krakatoa • Burial – Vesuvius (Pompeii) • Nuee ardente – Pelee (St. Pierre) • Lahar – Mt. St. Helens & Nevado del Ruiz • Lava flow - Kilauea
Volcanic dome • Viscous magma • Usually in association with existing cones • Some independent, like Mono Craters CA
Volcanic neck • Vent materials more resistant • Flanks wear away • “neck” left behind
Distribution of Igneous Activity • Zones of divergence (seafloor spreading) • Zones of convergence (subduction) • Therefore, crustal plate margins • Hot spots (intraplate volcanism)
