There are volcanoes all over the world. They are above sea level and below the oceans. What a volcano actually is a hole in the Earth’s crust that lava and other Earth debris come out of a lot of the time or even hundreds of years apart. A lot of volcanoes are in a form of a mountain or a hill that have a crater from past eruptions. Many times, before an eruption, there is activity in the Earth’s surface that make the ground shake or even the crater in the volcano grow. Scientists are getting better at predicting eruptions. This can save many lives. Volcanoes can be devastating. It can destroy land in many different ways. One example is the submarine caldera called Kuwae. A huge island was once connected that is now two. A huge eruption happened collapsing the land in the middle underwater. The collapse associated with caldera formation may have been as much as 1,100 meters. Around 32–39 cubic km of magma was erupted, making the Kuwae eruption one of the largest in the past 10,000 years. Types of Volcanoes and How are Volcanoes Formed There are a few different types of volcanoes landforms in the world. Volcanoes are classified by scientist by their shapes. There are actually 5 different types of volcanoes but we will only focus on the 3 main types. The three types are composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes, or cinder cone volcanoes. The cinder cones are small volcanoes with steep sides. Even though they are small, these are the ones you probably hear about. They are very explosive and made of ash and rock. Most of the cinder cones are small and less than 500 meters high. A famous cinder cone is Sunset Crater Volcano in Arizona. A shield is a low and broad volcano that usually has a very wide crater (a dent in the Earth’s surface). It is formed from thin layers of lava after consistent low-grade eruptions. The largest volcano in the world is a shield volcano. It is located in Hawaii. Composite volcanoes are the tallest type of volcano. They look very impressive but do usually have quiet and slow lava flows. They sometimes have small eruptions that cause ash and rock to go flying. One of the most famous volcanoes in the world is a composite volcano. It is Mount Fuji in Japan. Go here to learn more about the 5 types of volcanoes, guyots, lava fields, lava lakes, lava domes, lava spines, lava tubes, and pit craters Volcanoes Landform Definition A volcano is a landform created during an event where lava comes out from the Earth’s crust. While volcanoes erupting, molten lava pushes the ground upwards until it goes out of the volcanoes vent. Continuous eruption leaves layers of lava and makes the volcano higher or wider.
