Types Of Volcanoes And Their Eruptions

You might have certainly heard about the different types of volcanoes and their eruptions, but have you thought more about it? Volcano is the term used to refer to a rupture or an opening on the earth surface, or crust, through which the liquid hot magma, and other contents such as lava and volcanic ash in the magma chamber, erupt outwards. In our planet earth, volcanoes are mainly found around convergent and divergent tectonic plate boundaries. Different types of volcanoes and their eruptions are based on certain features.

FISSURE VENTS

As the name suggests, fissure vents are the types of volcanoes and their eruptions that appears as a fissure on the earth surface through which lava and other contents erupt. The fissure will be, usually, a few meters wide and might be kilometers long in length.

These types of volcanoes and their eruptions erupt without any explosive activity and the eruption can be frequent.

SHIELD VOLCANO

Shield volcano is a type of volcano that is formed entirely by fluid lava flows and got its name from its size and low profile, which resembles the shield of a warrior. Highly fluidic lava erupted travels farther and forms layers of lava as the eruptions become frequent and thus results in the formation of shield volcanoes.

These types of volcanoes and their eruptions are effusive and are quiet frequent and the layers are formed as a result of effusive eruptions.

LAVA DOMES

This is the type of volcano that is built by highly vicious lava slowly erupted over a period of time. Lava domes are mostly formed inside the craters of previous volcanic explosions but can also form independently.

Lava domes are the types of volcanoes that can produce violent and explosive eruptions.

CRYPTODOMES

Crypto domes is the term used to refer to the type of volcanoes that is generally a bulge formed by vicious lava forces that thrust upwards through vents.

The lava underneath forces upwards and the bulge resulting from this push eventually erupts out and slide down the mountain.

STRATO VOLCANOES

This type of volcano is mountain, which is tall and conical, composing of lava flows and other magma fluids. Strato-volcanoes are considered as a composite structure formed by various structures resulted from other eruptions.

This type of volcanoes produce an explosive type of eruption and the ash can shoot up to kilometers of height and poses extreme danger.

SUPER VOLCANOES

A type of volcano that can cause destruction that is enormous and potential enough to be considered as continental because of its large caldera and size is called as super volcanoes. Super volcanoes are considered to be the most dangerous among volcanoes due to its potential to cause vast devastation.

Eruption of super volcanoes is highly explosive and is capable enough to cover miles of diameter.

SUB MARINE VOLCANOES

The type of volcanoes found in the ocean floors is termed as submarine volcanoes. Even though a few of the submarine volcanoes show their presence by ejecting their contents and producing a blasting steam and other debris over the surface of sea water, most of them don’t erupt because of the pressure exerted by the ocean water on the top of the submarine volcanoes that resist any kind of eruption.