Volcanoes: The Deadliest Features Of The Earth

Considered to be one of the deadliest features of our Earth, volcanoes are not only beautiful in their own way, but they are certainly unpredictable and dangerous. Volcanoes are formed to ventilate the pressure that is within the earth’s mantle. Firstly, volcanoes can start out at mountains, and with time, these mountains can erupt, causing molten rock and magma to ooze out and flow towards the Earth’s surface. After the release of this contained pressure form within, then lava spews out, along with an abundant amount of ash, which can travel for miles through the air, covering almost everything in sight. Volcanoes have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, but volcanologists still learn new things about them each and every day.

Volcanoes take relatively long to appear on the earth’s surface. Earth’s lithosphere is broken into seven major and many minor tectonic plates. These plates move in relation to each other, slowly changing the location of earth’s continents and oceans. This movement is responsible for much of the world’s volcanic activity. When two plates conjoin, a mountain forms over thousands of years. Afterwards, the magma, which is held in a magma chamber, within the Earth’s surface can slowly move up into the interior of the mountain, creating pressure in which can cause an eruption from a crater

Most commonly, they are found at plate boundaries, where two tectonic plates conjoin to form a mountain. Out in the Pacific Ocean, one can find the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is known as a subduction zone, which is when an oceanic plate is tucked under another plate, causing the formation of volcanoes, oceanic trenches, and ever so often, earthquakes. This specific area is abundant in volcanic and seismic activity. Since tectonic plates are constantly in motion, even at slow speeds of about an inch or two a year, this ring holds a majority of the world’s larger, more active