THE ROCK

Geomorphology
CYCLE
Literally means the study of earth
landforms Geo = Earth
Morph=Form
Logos= Study of
Geologic Forces
❖ Diastrophism – vertical and horizontal movement
of the earth’s crust (often produce Mountains)
❖ Erosion – physical removal of rock or wearing
down of landmasses by geomorphic agents such as
running water, glacial ice and wind.
❖ Volcanism – a phenomenon related to the various
processes associated with the surface discharge of
magma or hot water and steams including
volcanoes, geysers, fumaroles and hot spring.
 Four Categories of Evidence

⚫Geysers
⚫Hot Springs
⚫Fumaroles(Steam Vents)
⚫Mud Pots
 Geysers
⚫Geysers are Hot Springs ⚫Two types of Geysers
that erupt periodically ⚪ Fountain Geysers
⯍ Water shoots in various
⚫Eruption is the result of
directions
trapped below-ground ⚪ Cone Geysers
super heated water ⯍ Water shoots out in a narrow
⚫Most famous geyser is jet
Old Faithful
⚫Yellowstone has
approximately 500
geysers
⚫Account for over ½ of
the worlds geysers
 Hot Springs
⚫ Hot Springs are naturally
heated pools of water that is
created by rapid circulation
of heated water
⚫ Are similar to geysers but
without the narrow channels
creating build up of pressure
⚫ Microorganisms that live in
and around hot springs
often make the pools very
colorful
⚫ There are over 10 hot
springs in Yellowstone
 Fumaroles ( Steam Vents)
⚫Fumaroles are holes or
vents from which steam
escapes
⚫Created by the same
phenomenon as geysers
& hot springs, only there
is a much smaller volume
of water & it is much
hotter underground
⚫Often creates a hissing
noise
 Mud Pots

⚫Mud Pots are water-

saturated sediments
(like clay or mud) is
affected by super-heated
steam
⚫Steam forces its way
through the mud in
bursts, sending mud
showers through the air
VOLCANOES
 What is a Volcano?
❖ A volcano is an opening in a planet or moon’s crust
through which molten rock, hot gases, and other
materials erupt. Volcanoes often form a hill or
mountain as layers of rock and ash build up from
repeated eruptions.
❖ Volcanoes are Earth's geologic architects. They've
created more than 80 percent of our planet's surface,
laying the foundation that has allowed life to thrive.
Their explosive force crafts mountains as well as
craters.
How do volcanoes form?
Many volcanoes in the world form along the boundaries
of Earth's tectonic plates—massive expanses of our
planet's lithosphere that continually shift, bumping into
one another. When tectonic plates collide, one often
plunges deep below the other in what is known as
(1) subduction zone and the other is by (2) hotspot
volcanism.
 2 Ways of Forming Volcanoes

1. Subduction Zones - As the descending landmass

sinks deep into the Earth, temperatures and
pressures climb, releasing water from the rocks. The
water slightly reduces the melting point of the
overlying rock, forming magma that can work its
way to the surface—the spark of life to reawaken a
slumbering volcano.
Subduction Zones
2. Hotspot Volcanism -
In this situation, a zone of magmatic activity—or a hotspot
—in the middle of a tectonic plate can push up through the
crust to form a volcano. Although the hotspot itself is
thought to be largely stationary, the tectonic plates
continue their slow march, building a line of volcanoes or
islands on the surface. This mechanism is thought to be
behind the Hawaii volcanic chain.
FORMATION OF VOLCANOES
 Where do volcanoes erupt?

⮚ Convergent plate boundaries – where two

of Earth’s plates join together

⮚ Divergent plate boundaries – where two

of Earth’s plates move apart RING OF FIRE
!!

⮚ Hot spots – active areas below the earths

crust
Where do volcanoes erupt???
(click on it)
 Where Volcanoes Form?
❖ Some 75 percent of the world's active volcanoes are
positioned around the ring of fire, a 25,000-mile long,
horseshoe-shaped zone that stretches from the
southern tip of South America across the West Coast of
North America, through the Bering Sea to Japan, and
on to New Zealand.
❖ This region is where the edges of the Pacific and Nazca
plates butt up against an array of other tectonic plates.
Importantly, however, the volcanoes of the ring 
aren't geologically connected. In other words, a
volcanic eruption in Indonesia is not related to one in
Alaska, and it could not 
stir the infamous Yellowstone supervolcano.
TYPES OF VOLCANOES
Volcanoes are classified by appearance
● Steep slopes = Strato/composite Volcanoes
● Gentle slopes = Shield volcano

Appearance predicts type of eruption

● Steep slopes → explosive (violent) eruptions
● Gentle slopes → non-violent (quiet) eruptions
Types of Volcanoes: SHIELD VOLCANOES
• Shield volcanoes are built out of layers of lava from
continual eruptions (without explosions). Because the
lava is so fluid, it spreads out, often over a wide area.
Shield volcanoes do not grow to a great height, and the
layers of lava spread out to give the volcano gently
sloping sides. Shield volcanoes can produce huge areas
of basalt, which is usually what lava is when cooled.
• Even though their sides are not very steep, shield
volcanoes can be huge. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the
biggest mountain on Earth. If it is measured from its
base on the floor of the sea, Mauna Kea is even taller
than Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on land.
Types of Volcanoes: STRATOVOLCANOES
• A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is
a tall, conical volcano. It is built up of many layers of
hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash.
• Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes have a steep
profile and periodic eruptions. The lava that flows from
stratovolcanoes cools and hardens before spreading
far. It is sticky, that is, it has high viscosity. The magma
forming this lava is often felsic, with high-to-
intermediate levels of silica, and less mafic magma. Big
felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as
far as 15 km (9.3 mi).
Types of Volcanoes: CALDERA
• A caldera is what is left when a huge
stratovolcano blows its top off. It leaves a
crater where the top of the volcano was
before. Krakatoa, best known for its
catastrophic eruption in 1883, is much smaller
now.
MT. KRAKATOA, INDONESIA
Structure of a Volcano

ash
cloud
lava central
vent
old layers side vent
of lava

magma Earth’s crust

1. Large magma chamber
2. Bedrock
3. Conduit (pipe)/Throat
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by
the volcano
8. Flank
9. Layers of lava emitted by
the volcano
10.Throat
11.Parasitic cone
12.Lava flow
13.Vent
14.Crater
15.Ash cloud
 Classification of Volcanoes

A traditional way to classify or identify volcanoes

is by its pattern of eruptions. Those volcanoes
which may erupt again at any time are called
active. Those that are now quiet called dormant
(inactive). Those volcanos which have not
erupted in historical times are called extinct.
• An active volcano is currently
erupting, or it has erupted in the last
10,000 years.
• A dormant volcano is "sleeping," but it
could awaken in the future.
• An extinct volcano has not erupted in
the past 10,000 years.

https://wovodat.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/vo
lcano/ph-volcanoes
What determines the nature of
eruption?
• There are many primary factors affecting the
volcanoes eruptive style, namely: the
magma’s temperature, its chemical
composition, the amount of dissolved gases it
contains. These factors can affect the
magma’s viscosity in different way.
 VISCOSITY
• VISCOSITY is the property of the material’s
resistance to flow. It is also described as the
liquid’s thickness and stickiness. The more
viscous and thicker the material is, the greater
is its resistance to flow.
 Effect of Magma’s Temperature to
Viscosity
• The viscosity of the magma decreases with
temperature. The higher the temperature of
magma is, the lower is its viscosity. As lava
flows, it cools and begins to harden, its ability
to flow decreases and eventually stops.
 Effect of Magma’s Composition to
Viscosity
• Magma’s with high silica content are
more viscousthan those with low silica
Thecontent
magma . that contains less silica is
relatively fluid and travels far before
solidifying.
 Effect of the Amount of Gases
Contained in Magma to Viscosity
• Gas (mainly water vapor) dissolved in magma
tends to increase its ability to flow. Therefore,
in near-surface environments, the loss of
gases makes magma more viscous a dome or a
columnar.
 Lava with low amount of
gas as it rises has high
viscosity that piles up at a
vent resulting into a dome.

Lava with less silica

content is too viscous to
travel far, and tends to
break up as it flows

Lava with less silica

content has less silica
content has low viscosity
that it can travel a great
distance, fow=rming a thin
sheet
 Volcanic Eruption
• Eruption of Mayon Volcano last 2006 in Albay,
Philippines
http://youtu.be/MEI1BTjxmok
• Eruption of Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii, USA
http://youtu.be/488BkTUsMa4
 Types of Volcanic Eruption
• PHREARIC OR
HYDROTHERMAL
- is a stream-driven
eruption, as the hot rocks
come in contact with
water. It is short lived
characterized by ash
columns but may be an
onset for a larger
eruption. Example is Taal
volcano eruption in
Batangas (as shown
the
right) on
 Types of Volcanic Eruption
• PHREATOMAGMATIC
- is a violent eruption due
to the contact between
water and magma. As a
result, a large column of
very fine ash, high speed
and side-way emission of
phyroclatics called based
surges are observed.
Example is the eruption
of Mt. Fukutoku-Okanoba
in Bonin Islands, Japan
 Types of Volcanic Eruption
• STROMBOLIAN
- a weak to
periodic
violent eruption
characterized
fountain lava. Exampleby
is Mt. Irazu Eruption in
Costa Rica
 Types of Volcanic Eruption
• VULCANIAN
- characterized by tall
eruption coulmns that
reach up to 20 km high
with pyroclastic flow
and ash fall tephra.
Example is Mt. Paricutin
in Mexico.
 Types of Volcanic Eruption
• PLINIAN
- excessively explosive
type of eruption of gas
and pyroclastics.
Example is Mt. Pinatubo
in Zambales.
Examples of Volcanoes found in
the Philippines
 Suggested Videos
• Naked Science: Volcanoes (it provides
discussion about the formation of new
volcanoes in Yellowstone National Park, USA)
http://youtu.be/G1pa6afh8o4
• BBC: Iceland Volcanoes Erupts (it shows
eruption of Iceland volcanoes, its effects and
how people in Iceland adapts and survive
along the volcanic areas)
http://youtu.be/MlH7pCK4H-s