Volcano Research Project
Name ______________________________
Apr. 4
Devils Post Piles: Devil post pile is a
monument at Madrea county in eastern
California. It was made by Mother Nature did
make the "floor" that you see here. About 100,000 years ago a
400 foot thick molten mass of lava cooled and shrunk,
breaking into long vertical shaft.
Devils Tower: the Devils Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means
“Bear Lodge”) is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near
Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It
rises dramatically 1,267 feet (386 m) above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet
(1,558 m) above sea level.
Volcano Research Project
Name ______________________________
Apr. 4
Caldera:
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the
collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in
the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters. The word comes from Spanish
caldera, and this from Latin CALDARIA, meaning "cooking pot". In some texts the English term
cauldron is also used.
In 1815, the German geologist Leopold von Buch visited the Las Cañadas caldera of Teide on
Tenerife, and the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma, both in the Canary Islands. When he
published his memoirs he introduced the term caldera into the geological vocabulary
Lava Plateau: a Lava plateaus are formed by highly fluid (runny) basaltic
lava during numerous successive eruptions through numerous vents without violent explosions
(quiet eruptions). These eruptions are quiet because of low viscosity of mafic lava, so that it is
very fluid and contains small amount of trapped gases. The resulting sheet lava flows may be
extruded from linear fissures or rifts or gigantic volcanic eruptions through multiple vents
characteristic of the prehistoric era which produced giant flood basalts. Multiple successive and
extensive lava flows cover the original landscape to eventually form a plateau, which may
contain lava fields, cinder cones, shield volcanos and other volcanic landforms.
Hot Spot:
Many of the islands that dot the center of the Pacific Ocean are made
up of active, dormant, or extinct volcanoes, whose geologic histories are characteristic of "hot
spot" volcanism. The active volcanism is limited to a localized region (or "spot") of the volcanic
chain. Hot-spot island chains include the Hawaiian, Marquesas, Society, Pitcairn, Samoan, and
Galapagos archipelagos.
Volcanoes are also common around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Examples include the
Cascade volcanoes (e.g., Mt. St. Helens), the Aleutians, the volcanoes in Japan (e.g., Mt. Fuji),
the volcanoes of the Philippines (e.g., Mt. Pinatubo), and many others. These volcanoes have
earned the Pacific rim the nickname "the Pacific ring of fire". As the name "ring" implies, these
volcanic islands are simultaneously active along a line, whereas hot spot volcanism is active only
at small "spots." The Pacific rim volcanoes are related to plate boundary processes.
Volcano Research Project
Name ______________________________
Apr. 4
Photograph by J.D. Griggs on January 10, 1985
Rising gradually to more than 4 km above sea level, Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on our
planet. Its long submarine flanks descend to the sea floor an additional 5 km, and the sea floor in
turn is depressed by Mauna Loa's great mass another 8 km. This makes the volcano's summit
about 17 km (56,000 ft) above its base! The enormous volcano covers half of the Island of
Hawai`i and by itself amounts to about 85 percent of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.
Mauna Loa is among Earth's most active volcanoes, having erupted 33 times since its first welldocumented historical eruption in 1843. Its most recent eruption was in 1984. Mauna Loa is
certain to erupt again, and we carefully monitor the volcano for signs of unrest. See current
activity for a summary of our monitoring efforts
The largest volcano in the Solar System also happens to be the largest mountain in the Solar
System; isn’t that convenient. Don’t look on Earth. To find the biggest volcano, you’ll need to
travel to Mars to see the mighty Olympus Mons.
This mighty shield volcano towers 27 km above the surface level of Mars. This is about 3 times
the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level, and even 2.6 times higher than Hawaii’s Mauna
Kea, whose base is at the bottom of the ocean. Olympus Mons measures 550 km across at its
base, dwarfing anything else in the Solar System.
The top of Olympus Mons has a caldera complex (giant craters where the lava used to pour out)
that measures 85 km across, and 60 km wide. Some parts are up to 3 km deep.
Volcanoe is named after the roman god
volcan.
Volcanic ash, Lapilli, Volcanic bombs and Volcanic blocks.are the four types of
pyroclastic material.