If you’ve ever seen a picture of a volcano or a volcano in real life, you would know that volcanoes erupt. Well, the question here is how and why volcanoes erupt. Volcanoes are sometimes large and look like a mountain with a hole in it. Volcanoes are hollow and contain magma, also known as lava when the volcano has erupted. Volcanic areas typically form mountains made from the multiple layers of rock, ash, or other materials. Volcanoes have 3 stages: extinct, dormant, and active. Extinct volcanoes can not erupt ever again. Dormant volcanoes are not currently active but may turn active in the future. Active volcanoes are awake and ready to erupt. When a volcano erupts it sends material high into the sky, or the lava may flow out of the volcano. When lava is cooled down, it is called obsidian and it is very fragile.
Volcano eruptions happen when warm material escapes from the volcano's interior. Tectonic plates are an extreme cause of why volcanoes erupt. When tectonic plates move towards or on top of each other, this put pressure on and warms up the magma inside of the volcano. When magma warms up it usually bubbles and the magma rises and erupts since the volcano crust itself cannot hold the magma.
Written by Candida Villalta
BBC. “Why Do Volcanoes Erupt?” BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/44100737#:~:text=Volcanoes%20erupt%20when%20molten%20rock,when%20the%20earth’s%20mantle%20melts.&text=If%20magma%20is%20thick%2C%20gas,can%20be%20dangerous%20and%20destructive. Accessed 27 June 2020.
NASA Space. “What Is a Volcano?” Space Place, NASA Space Place, 27 June 2019, spaceplace.nasa.gov/volcanoes2/en.
Photo Citation: Pyle, David. “Why Can’t We Predict When a Volcano Will Erupt?” The Conversation, Copyright © 2010–2020, The Conversation US, Inc., 1 Feb. 2016, theconversation.com/why-cant-we-predict-when-a-volcano-will-erupt-53898.