VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS:

Volcanic eruptions happen when lava and gas are

discharged from a volcanic vent. The most common
consequences of this are population movements as
large numbers of people are often forced to flee the
moving lava flow. Volcanic eruptions often cause
temporary food shortages and volcanic ash
landslides called Lahar.

What makes a volcano erupt?

There are several different causes for a volcano to erupt which all
fundamentally come down to a  pressure change within the volcano which
forces the magma to overflow the chamber it is held in.

The most common type of eruption is caused by the movement of tectonic

plates.

When one is pushed under the other the magma, sediment and seawater is
forced into the chamber which eventually overflows and the volcano erupts
spewing lava into the sky.

This kind of eruption produces sticky, thick lava at temperatures from 800 to
1,000C.

The second type of eruption caused by tectonic plates is  when the plates
move away from each other allowing magma to rise and fill the the gap, which
can cause a gentle explosion of thin lava of temperatures between 800 to
1,200C.

Decreasing temperatures can cause old magma to crystallise and sink to the
bottom of the chamber and this movement can force fresh liquid magma up
and out - similar to dropping a brick in a bucket of water.
Finally a decrease in external pressure can trigger an eruption as it may
minimise the volcano's ability to hold back by increasing the pressures inside
the magma chamber.

This kind of eruption can be caused by natural events such as typhoons,

which decrease rock density, and glacial melting on the top of the volcano
which alters the molten rock composition.

Glacial melting is believed to be one cause behind the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull

eruption in Iceland.

How are volcanoes formed?

Volcanoes are formed by eruptions of lava and ash when magma rises
through cracks or weak-spots in the Earth's crust.

A build up of pressure in the earth is released, by things such as a plate

movement which forces molten rock to exploded into the air causing a
volcanic eruption.

The lava from the eruption then cools to form a new crust.

Over time, generally several eruptions, the rock builds up and forms a
volcano.

TYPES OF VOLCANIC ERUPTION

The most common type of volcanic eruption occurs when magma
(the term for lava when it is below the Earth's surface) is released
from a volcanic vent. Eruptions can be effusive, where lava flows
like a thick, sticky liquid, or explosive, where fragmented lava
explodes out of a vent. In explosive eruptions, the
fragmented rock may be accompanied by ash and gases; in
effusive eruptions, degassing is common but ash is usually not.
Volcanologists classify eruptions into several different types.
Some are named for particular volcanoes where the type of
eruption is common; others concern the resulting shape of the
eruptive products or the place where the eruptions occur. Here
are some of the most common types of eruptions.

1. Hawaiian Eruption
In a Hawaiian eruption, fluid basaltic lava is thrown into the air in jets
from a vent or line of vents (a fissure) at the summit or on the flank of a
volcano. The jets can last for hours or even days, a phenomenon known
as fire fountaining. The spatter created by bits of hot lava falling out of
the fountain can melt together and form lava flows, or build hills called
spatter cones. Lava flows may also come from vents at the same time
as fountaining occurs, or during periods where fountaining has paused.
Because these flows are very fluid, they can travel miles from their
source before they cool and harden.

Hawaiian eruptions get their names from the Kilauea Volcano on the

Big Island of Hawaii, which is famous for producing spectacular fire
fountains. Two excellent examples of these are the 1969-1974 Mauna
Ulu eruption on the volcano's flank, and the 1959 eruption of the Kilauea
Iki Crater at the summit of Kilauea. In both of these eruptions, lava
fountains reached heights of well over a thousand feet

2. Strombolian Eruption
Strombolian eruptions are distinct bursts of fluid lava
(usually basalt or basaltic andesite) from the mouth of a magma-
filled summit conduit. The explosions usually occur every few minutes
at regular or irregular intervals. The explosions of lava, which can
reach heights of hundreds of meters, are caused by the bursting of
large bubbles of gas, which travel upward in the magma-filled conduit
until they reach the open air.

This kind of eruption can create a variety of forms of eruptive products:

spatter, or hardened globs of glassy lava; scoria, which are hardened
chunks of bubbly lava; lava bombs, or chunks of lava a few cm to a few m
in size; ash; and small lava flows (which form when hot spatter melts
together and flows downslope). Products of an explosive eruption are often
collectively called tephra.

Strombolian eruptions are often associated with small lava lakes, which can
build up in the conduits of volcanoes. They are one of the least violent of
the explosive eruptions, although they can still be very dangerous if bombs
or lava flows reach inhabited areas. Strombolian eruptions are named for
the volcano that makes up the Italian island of Stromboli, which has
several erupting summit vents. These eruptions are particularly spectacular
at night, when the lava glows brightly.

3. Vulcanian Eruption
A Vulcanian eruption is a short, violent, relatively small explosion of viscous
magma (usually andesite, dacite, or rhyolite). This type of eruption results
from the fragmentation and explosion of a plug of lava in a volcanic conduit,
or from the rupture of a lava dome (viscous lava that piles up over a vent).
Vulcanian eruptions create powerful explosions in which material can travel
faster than 350 meters per second (800 mph) and rise several kilometers
into the air. They produce tephra, ash clouds, and pyroclastic density
currents (clouds of hot ash, gas and rock that flow almost like fluids).

Vulcanian eruptions may be repetitive and go on for days, months, or

years, or they may precede even larger explosive eruptions. They are
named for the Italian island of Vulcano, where a small volcano that
experienced this type of explosive eruption was thought to be the vent
above the forge of the Roman smith god Vulcan .

4. Plinian Eruption
The largest and most violent of all the types of volcanic eruptions
are Plinian eruptions. They are caused by the fragmentation of
gassy magma, and are usually associated with very viscous
magmas (dacite and rhyolite). They release enormous amounts of
energy and create eruption columns of gas and ash that can rise
up to 50 km (35 miles) high at speeds of hundreds of meters per
second. Ash from an eruption column can drift or be blown
hundreds or thousands of miles away from the volcano. The
eruption columns are usually shaped like a mushroom (similar to
a nuclear explosion) or an Italian pine tree; Pliny the Younger, a
Roman historian, made the comparison while viewing the 79 AD
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and Plinian eruptions are named for
him.

Plinian eruptions are extremely destructive, and can even

obliterate the entire top of a mountain, as occurred at Mount St.
Helens in 1980. They can produce falls of ash, scoria and lava
bombs miles from the volcano, and pyroclastic density currents
that raze forests, strip soil from bedrock and obliterate anything in
their paths. These eruptions are often climactic, and a volcano
with a magma chamber emptied by a large Plinian eruption may
subsequently enter a period of inactivity.

5. Lava Domes
Lava domes form when very viscous, rubbly lava (usually
andesite, dacite or rhyolite) is squeezed out of a vent without
exploding. The lava piles up into a dome, which may grow by
inflating from the inside or by squeezing out lobes of lava
(something like toothpaste coming out of a tube). These lava
lobes can be short and blobby, long and thin, or even form spikes
that rise tens of meters into the air before they fall over. Lava
domes may be rounded, pancake-shaped, or irregular piles of
rock, depending on the type of lava they form from.

Lava domes are not just passive piles of rock; they can
sometimes collapse and form pyroclastic density currents, extrude
lava flows, or experience small and large explosive eruptions
(which may even destroy the domes!) A dome-building eruption
may go on for months or years, but they are usually repetitive
(meaning that a volcano will build and destroy several domes
before the eruption ceases). Redoubt
volcano in Alaska and Chaiten in Chile are currently active
examples of this type of eruption, and Mount St. Helens in the
state of Washington spent several years building several lava
domes..

6.Surtseyan Eruption
Surtseyan eruptions are a kind of hydromagmatic eruption, where
magma or lava interacts explosively with water. In most cases,
Surtseyan eruptions occur when an undersea volcano has finally
grown large enough to break the water's surface; because water
expands when it turns to steam, water that comes into contact
with hot lava explodes and creates plumes of ash, steam and
scoria. Lavas created by a Surtseyan eruption tend to be basalt,
since most oceanic volcanoes are basaltic.

The classic example of a Surtseyan eruption was the volcanic

island of Surtsey, which erupted off the south coast
of Iceland between 1963 and 1965. Hydromagmatic activity built
up several square kilometers of tephra over the first several
months of the eruption; eventually, seawater could no longer
reach the vent, and the eruption transitioned to Hawaiian and
Strombolian styles. More recently, in March 2009, several vents of
the volcanic island of Hunga Ha'apai near Tonga began to erupt.
The onshore and offshore explosions created plumes of ash and
steam that rose to more than 8 km (5 miles) altitude, and threw
plumes of tephra hundreds of meters from the vents.
Environmental impact of
volcanic eruptions
Volcanic eruptions can be extremely damaging to the environment,
particularly because of a number of toxic gases possibly present in
pyroclastic material. It typically consists mainly of water vapour, but it also
contains carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide gas. Other gases typically
found in volcanic ashes are hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen chloride,
hydrogen fluoride, carbon monoxide, and volatile metal chlorides.

Carbon dioxide emitted from volcanoes adds to the natural greenhouse

effect. Sulphur dioxides cause environmental problems, because they are
converted to sulphuric acid in the stratosphere; the main cause of acid rain.
Furthermore, sulphate aerosols are formed, which reflect solar radiation
and absorb heat, thereby cooling the earth. Sulphate aerosols also take
part in chemical reactions, forming ozone destructive material.
An example of a volcanic eruption that caused substantial environmental
damage is the Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines.