Archive for June, 2010
The day dawned like any other day working on the cornfields for farmer Dionisio Pulido when suddenly out of nowhere a fissure opened in his field and he could smell sulphur rising to the surface. Hot molten lava began to flow in what use to be a corn field, now in its place a cinder cone called Paricutin. In just a few hours you could see the true makings of a cinder cone. What began as a crack in the farmers corn field now stands at 1345 feet above the ground and its lava covers about ten square miles. Paricutin is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
The cinder cone has steep slopes of lava and ash with usually a central vent make the shape of our typical volcano. As the lava explodes out of the central vent it is cooled quickly and builds the steep slopes surrounding the vent. Cinder cones are usually the smallest of all volcanoes and normally are under 1000 feet tall. If volcanoes are interesting to you get volcano kits , that come with lots of fun facts and activities to do. Thanks Mooresciece
A shield volcano is a volcano that has gently sloping sides and form what looks like a shield. These volcanoes are typically non violent and have a central vent with lots of fissures and dikes of hot molten lava running down the side of these volcanoes. Shield volcanoes are gently sloping because the lava flowing from them is very fluid and runny, because of this the lava does not cool as quickly and stays heated longer.
The largest mountain in the world is Mauna Loa rising just 13,000 feet from the pacific ocean but its true height is 33,000 feet rising from the ocean floor.Find yourself a good science kit that explains how shield volcanoes are formed and who knows your son or daughter might just turn out to be a vulcanologist. Thanks Moorescience
Composite Volcanoes are normally steep sided symmetrical cones that have built up over many years, ash and lava from previous eruptions hence the name composite. They normally have a crater or vent at the top. These volcanoes are also sometimes called strato volcanoes.
Some of the greatest volcanoes in the world are composite volcanoes like Mount St Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington. These composite volcanoes form along a convergent boundary or subduction zone that I blogged about before. The lava is thick and tends to get stuck in the vents and fissures of the volcano until gasses building up pressure explode causing violent eruptions. To learn more about composite volcanoes get yourself a volcano science kit and you just might find yourself wanting to be a volcanologist. Thanks Moorescience.